Annandale cold case solved

Detectives from the Fairfax County Police Department’s Cold Case Squad have identified a woman who committed suicide in Annandale 25 years ago.

The woman, formerly known as “the Christmas Tree Lady,” is Joyce Meyer Sommers, the FCPD announced.

She was identified by Othram Inc. using advanced DNA testing and forensic-grade genome sequencing.

The Christmas Tree Lady

On Dec. 18, 1996, police officers responded to a report of a deceased woman at Pleasant Valley Memorial Park at 8420 Little River Turnpike in Annandale.

A groundskeeper at the cemetery had discovered the body in the section designated for babies but not near a particular grave. She had a plastic bag over her head. A small decorative Christmas tree was found near her body.

The woman had two envelopes in her pocket. One contained a note indicating she had taken her own life. It said: “Deceased by own hand… prefer no autopsy. Please order cremation with funds provided. Thank you. Jane Doe.” The other envelope contained two $50 bills, one for the coroner and one for the cemetery.

She was described as Caucasian, with red/copper hair, standing about 5 feet tall. She was believed to be between the ages of 50-70 years old at the time of her death. An autopsy revealed she had alcohol and valium in her system.

Investigators suspected the death was a suicide and the official cause of death was determined to be suffocation.

Detectives compared her physical description to numerous missing person cases in the National Capital Region but were unable to find a match. At the time of her death, Meyer was not reported missing and did not have family in the immediate area. 

The Cold Case Squad spent years tracking down clues about the “Christmas Tree Lady.” In 2000, a colorized sketch of the woman was produced, but no one recognized her.

Advanced genetic technology

With all leads exhausted, the FPCD turned to Othram, a forensics lab in Houston, in January 2022 with the hopes the company could use advanced forensic genetic genealogy technology to identify a possible family member.

Othram worked with forensic genetic genealogist Carla Davis to execute the genealogical search and perform the research necessary to produce investigative leads. The costs associated with this casework were crowdfunded by DNASolves and a substantial contribution from an anonymous donor.

Through Othram’s testing, it was later determined the unknown woman was Joyce Marilyn Meyer Sommers, originally from Davenport, Iowa. She was the oldest of five siblings.

Detectives connected with a brother of Sommers, which led to additional family connections across the country. A DNA sample from a close relative confirmed a match, which was corroborated by conversations with long-lost siblings.

Sommers was 69 years old when she was found deceased. Family members believe she may have moved to the Virginia area sometime after the mid-1980s. She apparently didn’t have any children.

Relatives found

Although she was not reported missing, her family had spent years looking for her and even hired a private detective.

According to a story in the Washington Post, the breakthrough came from a sister living outside Phoenix named Clough. She said Joyce attended Iowa State University. She moved to Los Angeles where she worked for Seventeen magazine, then taught second grade at a Catholic School in Los Angeles. She got married around 1959 and later divorced.

Sommers began seeing a psychiatrist and became estranged from her family after blaming her mother for being a terrible parent, Clough said. Joyce moved to Seattle and married James Sommers. They divorced in 1977. She then moved to Tucson where she lived in a trailer park. Her siblings visited her there but turned down her request to build her a house.

“After that visit, she dropped off the face of the earth,” Clough said. Her family did not hear from her again.

“After decades of wondering what happened to their loved one, Joyce’s family is finally at peace thanks to the dedicated work of several generations of FCPD detectives, anonymous donors, and Othram,” said Major Ed O’Carroll, commander of the FCPD Major Crimes, Cyber and Forensics Bureau. “Our detectives never stopped working for Joyce and her family. Advances in technology will continue to help close cases and provide answers to victims’ families.”