for the survivors &victims

July 28, 2026

In November 1997, surveyors walking a wooded trail in DeBary, Florida, made a discovery that would haunt Volusia County investigators for decades. Scattered among the leaves and undergrowth were skeletal remains — no identification, no wallet, no clear clues about who the man had been in life. The trailhead sat near Fort Florida Road, just south of Highbanks Road, a quiet area not far from the St. Johns River. With no immediate leads, the man became known simply as Volusia County John Doe.

Investigators determined early on that the remains belonged to a young adult male, likely white or Hispanic. His clothing offered the only tangible hints: Pipeline brand shorts, a red Screen Stars T‑shirt, white socks, and remnants of a blue Key Elements garment. Nothing about the scene suggested how he died. No weapon, no obvious trauma, no personal effects. His cause and manner of death were officially listed as undetermined, a blank space where answers should have been.

For years, the case sat cold. Detectives revisited it periodically, but without DNA technology capable of identifying distant relatives, the trail remained frozen. The man had no fingerprints on file, no dental match, and no missing‑persons report that clearly aligned with his description. He was a ghost in the system, a life reduced to bones and a handful of clothing fragments.

Everything changed in 2024, when the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Othram Labs, a forensic genetic genealogy team known for solving long‑cold cases through advanced DNA sequencing. Othram began working the case in February 2024, building a genetic profile from the degraded remains. By July, they had identified a likely paternal match in Seminole County, a breakthrough that finally gave investigators a direction to pursue.

On February 13, 2025, after 27 years of uncertainty, the sheriff’s office announced that Volusia County John Doe had been identified as Ryan L. Stone, a 22‑year‑old man last seen by his family in 1994. Stone had vanished without explanation, and his family had spent three decades not knowing whether he was alive or dead. The identification brought them long‑delayed closure, even though the cause of his death remains unknown.

"Having someone's life in your hands, literally, is a weight that I've never felt before," - said by Karen Friedman Agnifilo.

Kenisha Dixon’s life was senselessly and tragically taken from her on May 9th, 2000. 

The 21-year-old woman was at her apartment in Houston, Texas on the morning of her murder. At 11:10 AM, Kenisha heard a knock on her front door. She opened it and was immediately shot to death by the person on the other side of the door. Kenisha’s assailant fled the scene after the shooting and to this day has never been identified. 

Very little is known about Kenisha and/or the events leading up to her death. What is known is that she moved into the apartment where she was killed just two months earlier. Kenisha did not have a boyfriend but lived with a male roommate. Said roommate was reportedly not home at the time of Kenisha’s murder.

It’s also known that Kenisha seemed to be fearful of answering the door that morning. She reportedly grabbed a handgun before opening the door. Unfortunately, Kenisha was shot so quickly that she did not have time to defend herself. Investigators later discovered the handgun in close proximity to Kenisha’s body. 

Kenisha’s male roommate told police that he was the owner of said handgun. The reason why Kenisha felt she needed to bring it with her to answer the door remains a mystery. It’s clear that she was correct about any danger she might have sensed - but the reasons why she was scared, and why she was killed, are unknown to this day. 

The Houston PD stated that “investigators were able to ascertain valuable information while conducting a canvas, interviewing residents of the apartment complex and others.” Still, over 25 years have passed since Kenisha’s murder, and no arrests have been made - nor have any suspects been publicly identified.