Portfolio > The Great Basin Murders

On November 16, 1993 a geologist from California pulled off of I-80 in rural Elko County to stretch his legs and discovered the body of Shafter Jane Doe. She was nude and in a cross-like position. Isotopic testing revealed that the victim spent the last seven months of her life near Afton, Wyoming.

On June 3, 2026 the Elko County Sheriff's Office announced that Shafter Jane Doe was positively identified as Marion Hertha Alexander. She was identified through a digitally enhanced deteriorated single right thumb print.

Marion was born in Germany and immigrated to the US with her family in 1972. At 18 or 19 she moved out of her residence in California. She was known to be free-spirited and drifted around so while her family wondered where she was she was not reported missing to law enforcement.

In 2022 detectives identified a suspect based on foreign male DNA found at the scene as Roger Lee Durkee of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Through interviews, forensic and digital evidence, investigators felt that they had a strong case against Durkee. They planned to interview him and see if he would confess. While planning the trip to Wisconsin, detectives learned Durkee had died on November 13, 2025. This was almost exactly 32 years after Marion was found murdered on November 16, 1993 off of I-80 in Elko County.

The Elko County Sheriff’s Office has secured funding to give Marion Alexander a proper gravestone so she can finally be put to rest.

Shafter Jane Doe Case File, Doe Network
Elko County Sheriff's Office Press Release