The Girl Next Door

Summary

48 Hours: "The Girl Next Door"

Original Air Date: April 29, 2026
Podcast Host: CBS News / 48 Hours team
Case Location: Castro Valley, California & Yawalika, Mexico

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Episode Overview

This episode of 48 Hours tells the deeply moving and haunting story of "Castro Valley Jane Doe," an unidentified teenage girl found murdered and discarded behind a restaurant in an affluent Bay Area suburb in May 2003. The episode follows the relentless efforts of Detective Scott Dudek, forensic experts, community members, and an amateur sleuth to restore this young girl's name—Yesenia Noongaray—her identity, and her dignity. The narrative also explores the international pursuit of justice for Yesenia as her suspected killer remains at large.

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Main Segments & Key Insights

1. The Crime Scene & Initial Investigation

[02:54–08:49]

• Discovery:
  The body, found in a trash bag behind a restaurant, was that of a teenage girl. There were no initial clues to her identity—no one had reported her missing, and she was not connected to any local missing person cases.

• Details from Detective Scott Dudek:

  • "She was 5 foot 1, 110 pounds...She had beautiful gold hoop earrings. No drugs, no alcohol in her system...it tells you that this is the girl that was living next door." [02:54]
  • Her death was particularly brutal—she died by asphyxiation, a rag stuffed down her throat.

• Early Frustration:

  • "Normally for us, within the first 24 to 48 hours. We know who they are...But sadly, no one seemed to be looking for her." [07:35]

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2. Forensics & Community Involvement

[05:43–13:18]

• Autopsy Clues:
  Investigators identified that Jane Doe was healthy, with "perfect teeth," her clothing a Tommy Hilfiger knockoff common among teens. [08:10–08:23]

• Community Response:
  Landscaper Dave Woolworth took a personal interest:

  "When I read the story, I started crying...It was eating at me." [11:22]

  • Woolworth led fundraising efforts to ensure Jane Doe received a proper burial.

• Jane Doe’s Funeral:
  Community compassion led to a meaningful ceremony.

  • “No child should ever die alone. No child should ever go nameless.” – Detective Dudek [12:27]

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3. The Exhumation & Forensic Reconstruction

[16:00–22:55]

• Desperate Measures:
  Months without identification led Dudek to authorize exhumation:

  “It was the most horrifying thing...just the longest 18 hours of my life.” [16:18]

• Determining Age & Ethnicity:

  • Anthropologist Alex Alison Galloway revised Jane Doe’s age to 14–17 based on bone and dental evidence. [17:08]
  • Forensic dentist Dr. Duane Spencer: “So I’m comfortable with saying this Jane Doe is in the range of 14, 15, 16, 17...” [17:37]

• Facial Reconstruction:

  • Forensic artist Gloria Nussi, using science and intuition, painstakingly reconstructed Jane’s face:

    “I just want to try to make her look like a person. Starting to see this little smile, and there's a softness to her eyes. All that she's been through, this is her chance...” [21:05]

  • The completed sculpture closely matched Jane’s likely appearance, including her dyed hair and hoop earrings.

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4. Publicity, Dead Ends, and a Breakthrough

[22:55–28:25]

• Media Blitz:
  The facial reconstruction, combined with a $55,000 reward, was released to hundreds of agencies and the media:

  “Maybe as a total package here, somebody will realize that’s my girl.” – Detective Dudek [22:55]

• Amateur Investigation:
  Armchair detective Ellen Leach from Mississippi spent months cross-referencing Jane Doe's likeness online, but her most promising leads—like many—turn out not to match. [24:10–25:25]

• A New Clue Emerges:

  • At Jane’s grave, a necklace and note appeared:

    "God loves you. It's okay, baby girl. Jim is paying for what he did to you." [26:58]

  • Investigators hoped DNA or fingerprints would lead somewhere, but they did not.

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5. The Call That Changed Everything

[28:04–38:27]

• Publicity Pays Off:
  After Jane Doe's case is featured on 48 Hours Mystery in January 2006, a caller recognized the reconstructed face as a girl seen with Miguel Castaneda—a man who worked at the restaurant where she was found. [28:25–28:46]

  • “His name is Miguel Castaneda, and he worked at the restaurant where the body was dumped.” – Detective Dudek [28:46]

• International Search:
  Dudek and his team traced Castaneda and Jane Doe to Yawalika, Mexico.
  They distributed 4,000 flyers and engaged the community, particularly teens:

  “The word spread around that town so quick, we had people coming up to us asking if they could hand out flyers.” [33:06]

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6. Identity Restored: Yesenia Noongaray

[34:08–39:57]

• Reunion with Mother:

  • A Yawalika woman approached police, convinced Jane Doe was her missing daughter, Yesenia.
  • Photographs and physical details matched exactly:

    “The sculpture that Gloria did, how much more close can you get? The cheekbones are perfect. Her lips are perfect. She has gold hooped earrings.” – Dudek [34:46–34:58]

• DNA Confirmation:

  • “A DNA sample from her mother would later confirm it. Jane's real name was Yesenia Noongaray.” [36:04]

• Bittersweet Identification:

  • Forensic artist Gloria Nussi reflects:

    “Yesenia’s mother must be so devastated to find out that her daughter is gone.” [37:24]

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7. Return Home and Community Mourning

[38:27–40:24]

• Closing the Circle:

  • Yesenia was returned to her mother in Mexico, escorted by police and mourned by two communities:

    “Yesenia will be my little girl and everybody’s little girl in this area forever.” – Detective Dudek [45:35]

• Mother’s Remembrance:

  • “For me, she was very special. She was happy and she liked flowers, stuffed animals.” – Maria, Yesenia's mother [40:24]

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8. The Hunt for Justice

[40:47–46:22]

• Suspect Miguel Castaneda:

  • Dudek, increasingly certain of Castaneda’s guilt, relays the possible motive:

    "I think Yesenia turned down his advances and she was killed because of that." [42:52]

  • A witness had been asked to help move a bag, most likely containing Yesenia's body. [42:15–42:26]
  • A warrant for Castaneda's arrest was issued—he remains in hiding in Mexico as of the episode’s recording. [46:22]

• Detective's Determination:

  • “Our job's not done. Our job's not going to be done until that person’s locked up.” [41:56]
  • “We’re going to move as fast as we can and we’ll get our man, we’ll make an arrest and we'll get him.” [45:35]

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9. Final Reflections & Notable Quotes

• Community and Compassion:

  “This was about a bunch of people getting together, not forgetting about a girl that was found murdered behind a restaurant. Citizens, scientists, cops, clergy, everybody came together. And look at the result.” – Detective Dudek [45:35]

• On Humanizing Victims:

  “She was our girl. She was my girl. It’s just that she was so innocent and so young and to come to the United States for a better life. And that’s not what she found. That’s not at all what happened to her.” – Gloria Nussi [38:27]

• Personal Closure:

  "I have cancer. My days are numbered. I'm glad that I lived long enough to see it.” – Dave Woolworth, on seeing Yesenia returned home [45:18]

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Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Detective Dudek describes the crime scene: [02:54]
• Dave Woolworth’s emotional response and community efforts: [11:06–12:34]
• Gloria Nussi reconstructs Jane Doe’s face live on the podcast: [20:35–22:08]
• The cemetery clue—necklace and note: [26:58]
• Dudek meets Yesenia’s mother in Mexico: [34:13–34:58]
• Yesenia's mother expresses gratitude and her daughter's dreams: [40:24–41:37]
• Dudek's reflections on finding justice: [41:56–46:22]

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Conclusion

48 Hours: The Girl Next Door is a profound exploration of loss, perseverance, and the fight to restore dignity to the unseen and unnamed. The episode not only brings closure to Yesenia’s family, but also honors the relentless investigators, forensic experts, community members, and strangers who came together to recover her name—and to continue the search for justice. Though her killer remains at large, Yesenia is no longer just the “girl next door”—she is remembered, loved, and mourned on both sides of the border.

Transcript

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[Detective Scott Dudek]

She was 5 foot 1, 110 pounds. She had a butterfly clip in the back of her hair. She had beautiful gold hoop earrings. No drugs, no alcohol in her system. If you put that all together, it tells you that this is the girl that was living next door. This girl could be from Louisiana. This girl could be from New York. This girl could be from Rhode Island. We have no idea where to even start. Unfortunately, we're Gonna have to dig up her body to find out who she is. I'm Sergeant Scott Dudek. I'm a detective with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. I can vividly recall pulling in here that night. It was late at night. They found a bag behind the local restaurant here in Castro Valley. You know, the sad part about it too is outside of being discarded like a piece of trash behind a tree, she had a rag stuff down her throat. She died of asphyxiation. So it was just a horrific, horrific ending. We have to figure out who this little girl is to go forward with the homicide investigation. 1, 2, 3, up. We're hopeful that the new pathologist that looks at her little body can tell us something that maybe we missed that down. Okay, hold on a minute.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

This was a living, breathing person. She does have a story to tell us and she's trying very hard tonight to tell us what she can.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

There are a million clues inside his skull. It just takes the right person to bring him out.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

Facial reconstruction is kind of a last ditch effort.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We were desperate to find out who killed this young girl. I knew we would. I just didn't know how. But it just proves that you really shouldn't give up.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The girl next door. Tonight's 48 Hours Mystery.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

I think it haunts me a lot. I think it haunts everybody that's worked on this case.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Like any good homicide detective Sergeant Scott Dudak can sometimes get a little obsessed with his cases. But this case troubles him more than any other. What makes this one so different?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

She's just a child and no one knows who she is. If anybody deserves everything you got and then 50% more than that, it'd be a child.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

A 22 year veteran of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department in Northern California, Dudek has solved his share of gruesome crimes. But murders are rare in the suburban community of Castro Valley.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

It's a beautiful community. It's about 75,000 people. It's, it's a middle to upper middle class, most of it. Not a lot of crime. Not a lot of violent crime especially so very nice area.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

So what he saw the night of May 1, 2003, was especially shocking, even to a seasoned detective. The body of a young girl murdered, stuffed into a trash bag and discarded behind a restaurant. Can you show us extra where she was found?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

If you go behind this tree right here, her body was down here by the cyclone fence. She had been dead for about 10 days, so it was fairly well decomposed.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

And the way she died with a rag in her throat suggests someone may have wanted to silence her. Do you think she saw something?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

You know, there had to be something very, very terrible, obviously, that went on for her ultimate ultimately to be killed. Maybe she was a witness to something.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

What usually happens when you find an unidentified murder victim?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Normally for us, within the first 24 to 48 hours. We know who they are either by looking at missing persons reports or having a parent contact us.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

But sadly, no one seemed to be looking for her. Because her body was so badly decomposed. A local artist did the best she could to give her a face. They also gave her a name, Jane Doe. Police had to rely on her autopsy for other clues.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We had 10 perfect prints that we got off of both her hands, which is a rarity.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Investigators guessed she was in her early teens. She was in good health with perfect teeth. This Jane had all the appearances of a typical teenage girl next door, from her painted nails to her choice of clothing.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We had a seamstress redo the exact clothing that she was wearing. We found out it's a Tommy Hilfiger knockoff, and this is a teenager's outfit. It's very common. This is what all the kids were wearing.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Detective Dudek released this sketch hopeful it was good enough for someone to recognize this girl once it was splashed all over the local media and posted on websites dedicated to finding missing children.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

With this sketch being released, we probably had 150 possible clues or sightings of people that thought they knew who our Castro Valley Jane Doe was.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

One clue seemed so promising that Dudek and his partner, Ed Sheikwin, followed it all the way down to the Texas Mexican border, where they collected DNA samples from several mothers of missing teenage girls, including a girl whose picture bore a remarkable resemblance to Jane.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

And every single one of those were checked out and it wasn't her.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

There would be many more dead ends. But Scott Dudak remained determined, even though his frustration was mounting.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

I'm a father. Everybody that works on this case is a father. And it just pulls at you every single day as far as, why can't we just solve this?

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Then another clue that seemed almost too good to be true from a possible witness.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We thought it was a huge break. We got an anonymous letter in the mail.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The letter writer claimed to have seen someone get something from the trunk of a car and dump it in the very same bushes where the body was found. So basically, the person who wrote this letter was telling you that they got a look at the person who dumped the body of Jane Doe.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Correct. We asked this person to come forward, told him we would keep him anonymous. However, unfortunately, he chose not to come forward at that point.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

This potential witness admitted in the letter that he was reluctant to come forward because he himself had been in that parking lot waiting for a married girlfriend. Anything you want to say to that person? Now?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

He's a huge witness for us, and we need him to make that decision and do the right thing.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

As the weeks turned to months, the letter writer never came forward, and no one claimed this young girl. But her case touched the people of Castro Valley, and an unlikely hero emerged. He had no way of knowing that what he was about to do would one day help solve this mystery.

[Dave Woolworth]

From day one, she touched me. And to this day, she still does.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Dave Woolworth, a landscaper, was best known around town for his signature tie dyed T shirts.

[Dave Woolworth]

When I read the story, I started crying, and I looked at my wife and I told her, no one will come and claim her. It was eating at me.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Once the forensic investigation was completed, Jane was destined for cremation. But that was unacceptable to Woolworth himself, a father who had once been estranged from his own daughter.

[Dave Woolworth]

If the mother come forward, what are you going to hand her? A bag of ashes? We think this is your daughter.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Wilworth decided to take the lead in raising donations from the community. Nobody knows her name or exactly where she came from.

[Podcast Host Lloyd Lockridge]

But the tragedy of a young girl

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

found dead in the East Bay has touched many people.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

The whole community in this area has adopted her. She's known as Castro Valley's Jane Doe.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

And so, four months after her body was abandoned in a parking lot, Castro Valley's adopted daughter was given a funeral befitted.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

No child should ever die alone. No child should ever go nameless.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

As several more months went by, this child was still nameless and her killer faceless. The leads had slowed to a trickle.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We solve a lot of cold cases, a lot of homicides. Very proud of that fact. Okay, but all those have a name. We know who they are.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

So Sergeant Dudak made that agonizing decision to exhume the young girl's body and search again for the clues that could close this case.

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[Detective Scott Dudek]

I can't believe that we're actually doing this. I can't believe we're at this stage in the investigation where we have to go to such extreme measures.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Detective Scott Dudek feels he has no choice. You told some people that that was the worst night of your life.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

It was the most horrifying thing. I mean, I had tried to prepare myself for it. However, it was just the longest 18 hours of my life. We can't start finding out who stuffed a rag down her throat, who put her in the bag, who threw her behind the local restaurant. We can't even go there yet because we don't even know where she's from.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The first order of business is to find out who she is, right? His team of forensic experts.

[Anthropologist Alex Alison Galloway]

Humorous fusing almost. It's almost fully fused.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Led by Anthropologists Alex Alison Galloway.

[Anthropologist Alex Alison Galloway]

Let's go down to the legs.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Will examine Jane Doe's bones for clues that could provide a better estimate of her age.

[Anthropologist Alex Alison Galloway]

The bones all suggest that she's pretty much finished growing. I think she's probably much more say like 14 to 17 range.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

In another attempt to pinpoint Jane's age, Dudek has turned to Dr. Duane Spencer, a dentist and forensic specialist.

[Dr. Duane Spencer]

These are the dental X rays now of the maxillin mandible of Jane Doe. But the wisdom tooth is just starting to get its roots.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Dr. Spencer compares Jane's X rays to some of his teenage patients.

[Dr. Duane Spencer]

This is a 14 year old that just happened to come into my office this week and we took this picture. See how the roots are just little gnarly things. They really haven't formed in comparison to the other molars. Let's put up a 15 year old again. Look at the wisdom teeth. See, they really have formed very much here. And the last X ray we'll put up is a 16 year old. And again you see some little roots. They're forming a little more now on this 16 year old right here. So I'm comfortable with saying this. Jane Doe is in the range of 14, 15, 16, 17, somewhere in there.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Probably a lot of people are used to seeing forensics on television by watching shows like csi, but this is the real thing.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

The forensics field has made such leaps and bounds. That's why we decided that we would go over her body inch by inch by inch.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Dudek feels the most important key to unlocking this mystery is to get a better picture of what Jane looked like alive.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

62.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

And for that he calls in forensic artist Gloria Nussi, who will make a sculpture of Jane based on her bone structure.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Oh, look.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

You quite often peer into coffins. Bodies are exhumed. A lot of people might think that's

[Dave Woolworth]

a little bit morbid.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

Life isn't always pretty, but it is work that needs to be done using skills that I have to help someone else. And that is very important to me. There's a lot of asymmetry. There's a lot of asymmetry.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

So Nusi and Dr. Galloway study Jane's skull for clues to the girl's facial features. It's part science, part guesswork. How can you reconstruct a person's face just based on a skull? Most people out there would seem almost impossible because all you have is the skull.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

Well, the information is in the bone. It tells me that the width of the cheekbones is this. It tells me that, you know, the slope of the forehead is this. Every skull is absolutely unique, but the landmarks are. Are the same. Well, we do have the nasal spine, which is.

[Anthropologist Alex Alison Galloway]

We have the nasal spine.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

But Nusi also needs a sense of Jane's ethnic background to create a sculpture that will hopefully resemble the dead girl closely enough for someone out there to recognize her.

[Anthropologist Alex Alison Galloway]

Most of the features we're seeing are European, but there are some features that suggest that she might have some either Asian or Native American background.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The first step is to make a mold of the skull so Jane's body can be returned to the cemetery in the morning. Nusy will work all night long to make it.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

Oh, God. There she is again.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

She'll then bring the mold to her studio.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

There's the back of her head where

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

she'll work on it for weeks to bring Jane to life.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

There she is. Oh, my goodness. The next part is the fun part. Putting the clay on and finding her face, what she looks like. These little markers are showing the depth of tissue at these specific points on the skull. It's like I connect the dot.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Those markers tell Nusy how thick the clay should be over different parts of the face to get an accurate and lifelike shape.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

I'm going to put on her mouth. I know the width of her lips because I've measured that from the skull. I just want to try to make her look like a person. Starting to see this little fly little smile, and there's a softness to her eyes. All that she's been through, this is her chance, and it just needs to be absolutely perfect.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Five weeks after the exhumation and after some 40 hours of work, of course,

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

we tried to match her hair as well as we could. Her hair was dyed.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Gloria Nusse is putting the final touches on the forensic reconstruction.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

You know, she definitely looks like she's kind of coming to life to me.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Wow. What do you think?

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

Oh, she just is so. She is just so beautiful, and so. She just looks so precious to me.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Oh, my God. Wow.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

When he sees the finished product.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

This looks like a human being. She's done such a fantastic, wonderful job.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Detective Dudek is convinced he's one giant step closer to finding out Jane's real name and the identity of her killer. Jane Doe is ready for her close up. The new sculpture of her face is being unveiled today in a media blitz.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

That sculpture is going to be huge as far as generating leads. Now, you have a face. You. You have the shirt, you have the pants. It's still early, but it's going to pay off. There's no doubt in my mind. Maybe as a total package here, somebody will realize that's my girl.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Detective Dudek is also spreading the word to other police agencies.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

So just in this one transmission alone, we're going to reach 203 agencies.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

They will start getting out these new

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

flyers, and they are hoping somebody will recognize her.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

And he's already offering a $55,000 reward.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

This is gonna be the new poster. Do you recognize this girl?

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

We're passing out flyers regarding Jane Doe.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We're trying to drum up some leads and get some information on our Jane Doe who stole it.

[Commercial Narrator 2]

Oh, Jane Doe.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Yes.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

We're still trying to find the identity of Castro Valley Jane Doe.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

And you know about the case? Yes, I do. I've been following it. Okay, great. We'll go out to the business, businesses. We'll get it out to the people. Just make sure that our Jane Doe stays in everybody's mind.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The detective doesn't know it yet, but his little girl is very much on the mind of this woman. All the way across the country.

[Ellen Leach]

For Castro Valley Jane Doe, I put in a couple hours a night for a few months.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Ellen Leach of Gulfport, Mississippi, is a stockroom clerk by day and an armchair detective by night.

[Ellen Leach]

It could be called an obsession of sorts. I tried to find missing persons to give their families some sense of closure. I have been to probably 50 websites.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Ellen Leach is one of thousands of amateur detectives who scour the Internet to help police solve cold cases by matching photos of the missing to those victims who remain unidentified.

[Ellen Leach]

That's the closest one I've found so far.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Yeah. Late one night, the features of one little girl from Southern California began to line up with Jane's.

[Ellen Leach]

I like the way the face shape is around the chin. It looks like she's got a good smile to her. She looks like a beautiful little girl.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We were very hopeful that it was going to be our Jane Doe. We requested the dental records on this

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

little girl, but this girl's dental records,

[Dr. Duane Spencer]

no indication of any trauma on Jane

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Doe, do not match Jane's perfect teeth. It's another dead end. By now, one of hundreds.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

That was probably one of the lowest times of this investigation because we just, you know, we're hoping so much that that sculpture would give us that one piece of the clue that we needed to end this mystery.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Hundreds of tips are coming in. Nothing seems to be panning out. Are you worried at all, Gloria, that she may not be identified?

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

I am worried that she might not be identified. Maybe there is someone who does know her, but is afraid to come forward.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Gloria Nusse is even beginning to doubt her own work.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

My greatest fear, of course, is maybe I didn't do it right. Did I do something wrong? Whoever did this to her was probably counting on nobody knowing who she was and probably felt like she was nothing. Nobody means nothing, and nobody deserves to be murdered.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

You had the sculpture in your office. Every day you come to work, you're looking at her face.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

It was my way to say, until we get an ID on you, you're going to stay here so I don't forget about you.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Detectives were also keeping an eye on Jane's grave to see who might visit her one day. Sure enough, there was an intriguing clue. The necklace was found only on the headstone itself.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Correct. There was actually. This note was actually strung through the necklace, so it was attached to it. And the letter actually says, God loves you. It's okay, baby girl. Jim is paying for what he did to you.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Dudek is hoping that DNA and fingerprint tests on those items will provide some answers.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Is Jim the suspect? It could be is this.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

But that will take weeks, even months.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

You got a little girl out there that every single night, her mom and dad must wonder when she's coming home. You had left us a tip on our voicemail.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

So once again, the detective.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

Monday, 9:11pm is manning the phones. Another little girl. She was missing on December 2nd.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Well, I just wanted to thank you first off for calling. Sooner or later, somebody's gonna make a connection and they'll pick up the phone and they'll call us and they'll do the right thing.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

That combination of police work and publicity finally paid off in January 2006. 48 Hours Mystery reported on the case of Jane Doe. And the call started pouring into this dispatch center. One of them would turn this case around.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

The emotion that day was, it can't be explained. It was just huge for us. It was just. I can't believe that maybe this could be what we've finally been looking for.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Someone who watched the program thought Jane looked like a young girl who was seen around Castro Valley with this man.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

His name is Miguel Castaneda, and he worked at the restaurant where the body was dumped.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Detectives had some questions for Castaneda, but when they went looking for him, he was gone.

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[Podcast Host Lloyd Lockridge]

Hi, my name is Lloyd Lockridge and I'm the host of a new podcast from Odyssey called Family Lore. In this podcast I'm going to have people on to tell unusual and sometimes far fetched stories about their families.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

I've heard my whole life that she indebted the margarita and then we're going

[Podcast Host Lloyd Lockridge]

to investigate those stories and find out how much of it is true.

[Commercial Narrator 3]

He gets a patent one month before the Wright Brothers. Oh my God.

[Podcast Host Lloyd Lockridge]

Please follow and listen to Family Lore, an Odyssey podcast available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Detective Scott Dudek and his team have received a tip that Jane Doe and the man she was seen with may be from the same hometown in Mexico. So they're chasing their latest lead all the way across the border to try to identify her. Why did you make the decision to go to Mexico yourself? Why not leave it up to the Mexican authorities?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

This was our case. This was our little girl. If that happened to your child, wouldn't you want somebody to care?

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The detectives head to Yawalika, a poor working class town near Guadalajara.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We need your help to please to try to find out who she is.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Their plan to show the Sculpture and a photo of Miguel Castaneda to as many townspeople as possible, perhaps pass it around. For the next 48 hours, the detectives work day.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Thank you.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

And night walking hours on end to hand out some 4,000 flyers. The team hopes the reward, now up to $65,000.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Thank you.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Will attract some attention as well.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Make sure when you're handing them out that they know that we think she's from this area, because that's where. Okay.

[Dr. Duane Spencer]

Yes.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

At first, Dudek recruited some help.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

You want to go hand out some of these and I'll pay you?

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

But pretty soon, he didn't have to ask. The townspeople here, like those back in Castro Valley, had already taken this case to heart.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

The word spread around that town so quick, we had people coming up to us asking if they could hand out flyers.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Dudek was most eager to reach the teenagers in town. He thought they were his best shot at tracking down Jane's family.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Back in May 1st of 2003, El

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

Primero de mayo de los Mil tres.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

We had a girl that was from your area. She had been killed and then stuffed in a green bag. It was like looking at a bunch of Castro Valley Jane does, except these kids all had names.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

From one school to another, he repeated his story.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

They put her behind this restaurant in Castro Valley like she was a bag of trash.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

You didn't spare them the grisly details of what happened to Jane Doe.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

They had to know what happened to her. We felt that they were old enough to put themselves in her place. What horrific things she went through in the last moments of. Of her life.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

On his third day in Mexico, Dudek received a frantic message.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

One of the citizens said, there was a person that needed to talk to me right away.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

It was a woman who had seen the flyer and feared that Jane was her missing daughter.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

She was there to say, I think it's my little girl that you're looking for.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The minute Dudek laid eyes on her, he had a feeling his search was over.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

You have that moment where you go, oh, my God. She has some of the identical features.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The woman showed detectives pictures of her daughter.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

The sculpture that Gloria did, How much more close can you get? The cheekbones are perfect. Her lips are perfect. She has gold hooped earrings.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

And the woman said her daughter, like Jane, had perfect teeth.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

She told us she had never been to a dentist because she never complained about her teeth.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

The age and time frame fit, too. Her daughter left for California in March of 2003, on her 16th birthday, and she went to stay with Miguel Castaneda. Who was a family friend. Within weeks, her mother lost contact with her. About the same time the body was discovered behind the restaurant.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

It's like, oh my God, I'm going to have to tell this lady what happened to her little baby. And before I even started to say anything, she just started to scream and shaking her head, saying, no, no, no. It was brutal for me, there's no other way to describe it.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

A solemn dudak briefed reporters a few hours later.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Detective Chiquon and I, who have been working on this for three and a half years, are very confident that it is in fact Jane Doe.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

A DNA sample from her mother would later confirm it. Jane's real name was Yesenia Noongaray.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

She's just like the girl next door. She's just a teenager that went to school. She really loved poetry, she liked to read books a lot. She had a younger brother, you know, she wanted to leave that area to make a better life for herself. And this poor child came to America for the American dream. And three weeks later, this 16 year old schoolgirl is killed by a person and stuffed in a bag. How tragic of an end is that to her American dream?

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Four years after Yesenia's murder, detectives finally know her tragic story. And it might never have happened without Gloria Nussi's sculpture. In this picture, Yesenia is 15 years old. What's amazing is when you look at the side view with the hair pulled back over the ear, on how close

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

they look, I see a similarity in the shape of her jaw. I see a similarity in the shape of her nose. It is her.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

But Nusy's success is bittersweet. On the one hand, your work helped to identify her. On the other, it also took away any hope that her mother ever had of seeing her alive again.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

I can and I can't imagine what that would ever be like. I am a mother. I have a daughter. Yesenia's mother must be so devastated to find out that her daughter is gone.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

On that tearful day in Mexico, Dudek made two promises to Yesenia's mother. To bring her daughter's body back home and to hunt down the person who killed her. And he wants to start by finding Miguel Castaneda. Yesenia's body is being exhumed one last time to begin the long journey home.

[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

I wanted to be there and bring her home, you know, that to me was the closure. Then she was Yesenia, you know, she wasn't Castro Valley Jane Doe then she was Yesenia, you know, she was our girl. She was my girl. It's just that she was so innocent and so young and to come to the United States for or a better life. And that's not what she found. That's not at all what happened to her.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Once again, Yesenia is given a police escort. The detectives are taking her back to Mexico, where her mother Maria is waiting.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

It was a pretty sad day, you know, you wanted to be strong for the family because we viewed ourselves as her relatives. Now this is Maria's mother. It was very difficult.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Now there were two communities in mourning on either side of the border. Castro Valley raised money again for a funeral fit for a princess. And the townspeople of Yawalika showed Maria they shared her grief during the funeral. Through the procession. You walked all through the town where Yesenia grew up. What was that like for you?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

You know, I had never experienced anything like that. It was a proud experience. You know, everybody came out and said goodbye to her as we walked by. And I think not only did we bring closure to Maria and her family, I think we brought closure almost to the whole town.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

For Maria, it was a devastating end to four years of trying to find out what happened to her little girl.

[Maria (Yesenia's Mother)]

For me, she was very special. She was happy and she liked flowers, stuffed animals. She used to get along well with people. When she left, she told me that she wanted to keep studying and working because she was a very hard worker. From the time she was little, she was a hard worker.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Maria knew her daughter's future was bleak in her poverty stricken hometown. So she reluctantly let her go to California because Miguel Castaneda promised to watch over her. And at first, things seemed to be going well.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

She told her mom her worst day in America was still better than any day that she had in Mexico.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Then the phone calls home suddenly stopped. Castaneda told Maria that Yesenia had packed up and left. As the months went by, Maria knew something was very wrong.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

She knew her daughter was somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area. She did everything possible she could do to try to contact people, but she didn't know who to call.

[Maria (Yesenia's Mother)]

She didn't deserve this. She had dreams. She wanted to work, study and earn her money.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Now it's time for Detective Dudek to make good on his other promise to Maria. To catch the person who so brutally put an end to her daughter's dreams.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

Our job's not done. Our job's not going to be done until that person's locked up.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

He's been tracing Yesenia's final movements. What have you learned?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

When Yesenia left Mexico, she came to stay in this bungalow here in Hayward, California. She was only here about three weeks with Castaneda. She got a job as a babysitter.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

But the situation may have soured quickly. The detective has received a tip that Castaneda asked a friend to come to his bungalow to help move a large bag.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

He was told, hey, I need some help moving a mattress. And when he started to pick it up, he realized that it was most likely a body, not a mattress, and he decided that he wanted no part of it.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Were you able to talk to this person?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

You know, unfortunately, because this is an active case, I can't really divulge too much as far as that stuff goes.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

But Dudek doesn't hesitate to say this. He's now convinced that Castaneda is the killer.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

It's my belief that Yesenia felt that Castaneda was like an older brother. Castaneda wanted more of a relationship than that type. I think Yesenia turned down his advances and she was killed because of that.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

And Dudek is still hoping to hear from another possible witness. The mystery man in the parking lot who was waiting for his married girlfriend. How are you going to approach this person who may be your key witness to the suspect's disposing of the body?

[Detective Scott Dudek]

I think, like everything else on this case, if you put the humanitarian part of it in, will you say, hey, I'm not asking you as a cop, I'm asking you as a father. I'm confident this person may come forward and help me on this case.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

As for the necklace that was left on the grave in California, it did not contain any relevant DNA. But detectives still have enough of a case against Castaneda to get a warrant for his arrest.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

This is a picture that we obtained when we were in Mexico of him.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

But first they have to find their suspect, and that might not be easy. He could be hiding in either country.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

I strongly urge Mr. Castaneda to turn himself in either to the Mexican authorities or to the U.S. consulate, or if in fact he is in the United States, to any police department in the United States.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Back in the town of Yawalika, Yesenia's grieving mother is grateful to be able to bury her daughter close to home.

[Maria (Yesenia's Mother)]

Please, I am asking you to help me to thank them, because thanks to them, my daughter is here and I want to give them a hand.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

And she's also grateful to a man she may never meet. Landscaper Dave Woolworth.

[Dave Woolworth]

I just did what was right. She was a clean cut, 16 year old girl that took pride in herself

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

without his efforts, Castro Valley's Jane Doe would have been cremated, her identity forever a secret.

[Dave Woolworth]

She's where she belongs, with her mom.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Knowing she's home with her mother is also giving Woolworth some of kind at a difficult time.

[Dave Woolworth]

I have cancer. My days are numbered. I'm glad that I lived long enough to see it.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Woolworth still hopes to see Yesenia's killer put behind bars. And Dudek is determined to make that happen soon.

[Detective Scott Dudek]

And we're going to move as fast as we can and we'll get our man, we'll make an arrest and we'll get him. This was about a bunch of people getting together, not forgetting about a girl that was found murdered behind a restaurant. Citizens, scientists, cops, clergy, everybody came together. And look at the result. Yesenia will be my little girl and everybody's little girl in this area forever.

[Narrator / 48 Hours Host]

Miguel Castaneda has not been apprehended. Investigators believe he has remained in hiding in Mexico.

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[Detective Scott Dudek]

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[Forensic Artist Gloria Nussi]

Huzzah.

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