LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – More than 26 years after she went missing, Lake County investigators now know “Julie Doe’s” real name and part of her story.
On Sept. 25, 1988, a body was discovered about 30 feet off the side off of County Road 474 in a heavily wooded area in Clermont.
Now, investigators are looking to solve the final missing pieces of the puzzle.
Her name was Pamela Leigh Walton and her body had been in that wooded area for about two-to-four weeks, deputies said.
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Deputies said the victim was initially thought to be female until 2015, when DNA testing revealed the victim was biologically male.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victim was wearing a skirt and had breast implants, and there is evidence they may have been taking female hormone injections.
“That’s when we found out that our victim was not a biological female, but was instead a biological male,” said Lake County Sheriff’s Office Detective, Zachary Williams. “And that changed things because we really had to start to look into who is our victim and that way we can build out the circumstances surrounding the death.”
According to a news release, with the support of Dr. Barbara Wolf, the District Medical Examiner for Districts 5 and 24, the case was evaluated by the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization that utilizes investigative genetic genealogy to identify unidentified remains.
After years of difficult work, genealogists were able to identify possible relatives of “Julie Doe” who were then contacted by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office,” the release said in part.
Deputies said after relatives submitted DNA for comparison, the victim was identified as Walton.
Walton was born a biological male in Kentucky and put up for adoption, but once adopted, their name was Lee Allen Walton. At some point in their adult life, they changed their name to Pamela Leigh Walton and was at some point was transitioning from male to female.
“It makes it difficult because when you’re looking at DNA, it’s a little bit easier when you’re dealing with just one family tree and everybody is biologically, biologically related,” Williams said. “So when we found out the Pamela was adopted, that through it was another hurdle for us, because at that point, the biological family members that we’re talking to, they don’t even know that Pamela existed.”
Erin Lariviere is involved with Lake County Pride and has been following Walton’s case for years. Her daughter is transgender, making Walton’s case personal for her.
“Someone cares,” Lariviere said. “Someone is looking for her. Someone is wanting to know what happened and I hope that person whoever that is has their answer now and it brings them some peace.”
The sheriff’s office said that it is not known how Walton came to be in Florida, but the Lake County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the circumstances of her death.