In November 1980, skeletal remains of two individuals were discovered in a shallow grave outside of Ludlow, California, in a remote part of the Mojave Desert. The remains were estimated to be from a woman about 20 years of age and a male about 19 years of age. Neither victim had identifying information on them or were wearing clothing, and both were believed to have died six to eight months prior to being discovered. Both were victims of gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma.

The female victim was given the identifier of "Jane Doe 10" and the male victim the identifier "John Doe 29." From the time of their discovery until the case was solved, all available technologies and resources were utilized in attempting identifications, but all failed to yield results until investigative genetic genealogy provided the much desired answers.

Investigators worked all aspects of the case and identified the likely murderer, Howard Neal. Howard had lived in the Ludlow area when the murders occurred, but moved to another state shortly afterwards. He committed another three murders for which he was tried and convicted and sentenced to prison in another state. Although Howard gave the detectives little information initially, in 2017 he did state that the woman had told him that she had a daughter she had left with her mother.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputy Peter Headley partnered with Barbara Rae-Venter to solve the case using Investigative Genetic Genealogy. Several failed attempts to get a DNA profile led Detective Headley to enlist the help of Othram Forensics to extract DNA from the hitchhikers' bones and perform whole genome sequencing. Genomics were then used to generate a SNP file which Barbara Rae-Venter uploaded to GEDmatch on December 10, 2020. It was hoped that the daughter had also done DNA testing and uploaded her DNA profile to GEDmatch.

Matching on GEDmatch takes at least overnight and on December 11, 2020, there was the hoped for parent/child match for Jane Doe 10 on GEDmatch. A woman had uploaded her DNA profile to GEDmatch 935 days previously using the alias CS. The email address listed for CS was for a Private Investigator. Additional research by Deputy Headley determined the actual name of the match was Pamela Dianne Duffey and that her traveling companion was William Everette Lane. The CA-DOJ confirmed the identities of the victims in April 2021.