OPELIKA, Al. — A Maryland mother helped solve the murder of her estranged young daughter in Alabama.
It was all the way back in January of 2012 when the skull of Baby Jane Doe was discovered in the backyard of a trailer home in Opelika.
On scene police collected other human bones, a small bundle of hair, and a shirt likely belonging to a little girl between 4 and 7-years old.
An autopsy showed the child suffered blunt force trauma resulting in 15 individual fractures throughout the body.
The Medical Examiner's Office suggested the murder could have occurred sometime between the summer of 2010 and early 2011.
Investigators now had to identify the victim, which turned out to be a tall task.
After initial attempts to develop a DNA profile turned up empty, detectives finally got the break they needed in January of last year, more than a decade after the murder.
Forensic experts were able to extract DNA from the girl's scalp allowing them to build a genealogical profile.
Dr. Barbara Rae-Venter of Firebird Forensics Group took the case on and identified the child's relatives, which in turn helped develop a suspect.
Part of Venter's work included identifying the child's father, a 50-year-old member of the U.S. Navy named Lamar Vickerstaff Jr.
Last December detectives traveled to Vickerstaff's home base in Jacksonville, Florida to notify him of his daughter’s death.
During their meeting Vickerstaff provided investigators with no information on his daughter's identity. His current wife, Ruth, denied even knowing the child
Venter found several potential matches for the girl's biological mother, who they ultimately determined was living in Maryland.
Her name is Sherry Wiggins, 37, who shared that back in January of 2006 she gave birth to a baby girl named Amore Joveah Wiggins.
Sherry showed documentation that Lamar and Ruth Vickerstaff obtained legal and physical custody of Amore in 2009, at which time she was no longer afforded visitation.
Since then Sherry still paid Vickerstaff child support, according to police.
Investigators could not find any record of Amore ever being enrolled in school. She was also never reported missing.
Although they currently don't have enough evidence to charge Lamar and Ruth with Amore's murder, prosecutors made the decision to charge the couple for failing to file a missing person's report.
The pair is being held at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office pending extradition to Lee County, Alabama.
Anyone with more information on the case is asked to call the Opelika Police Department at 334-705-5220, or the Secret Witness Hotline at 334-745-8665.
