[5] The body of a white or possibly Middle Eastern female between 17 and 25 years old was found on October 29, 2006[6] in Kilgore, Texas, lying face-down on a pile of burning brush.

[20][2][7] According to residents of the area, there were many "suspicious people" in the vicinity of the oil field where the body was discovered and some referred to the location as a "killing ground.

"[14] Because of the condition of the body, the face was reconstructed three times—with clay, in a sketch by a forensic artist, and in January 2014, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released a digital composite image produced from a CT scan after the remains were exhumed on October 2, 2013.

[10][15][21] Despite comparison with the dental records and DNA of a large number of missing persons, the search for her identity long remained fruitless.

[16][19] After the release of the most recent reconstruction, the mother of missing 23-year-old Brandi Wells, who disappeared after going out to a nightclub in Longview, Texas, in August 2006, contacted authorities, feeling the composite strongly resembled her daughter.

[22] In 2007, a suspect in the case emerged, Joseph Wayne Burnette, then 36, who was a convicted sex offender and was in prison for another crime at the time police announced their suspicions that he was the murderer.

In 2013, an exhumation took place in order to create the digital three-dimensional forensic facial reconstruction by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to provide an estimation of her appearance during life, as the state of her body upon discovery prevented visual identification.

[9] It was decided to leave Dodd's body where it was originally buried, as members of the police community spent years visiting and caring for the gravesite.