Identified: Ronnie Joe Kirk
Today, the City of Madison (Wisconsin) Police Department announced the identification of the individual known as "Dane County Doe" or "Chimney Doe" whose remains were found in a chimney of a store in 1989. Dane county WI/Chimney Doe has been positively identified as Ronnie Joe Kirk, originally of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This was one of the first cases that the Trans Doe Task Force researched back in 2018 when we were first forming our organization. At the time, the founders of the Trans Doe Task Force were also forensic genetic genealogists with the DNA Doe Project, so we recommended this case to them and helped facilitate conversation with authorities to get the ball rolling. The genealogy work began at the DNA Doe Project after we departed to officially incorporate TDTF and we congratulate them on a job well done. We would also like to offer our condolences to Ronnie's family and friends.
Detective Lindsey Ludden has reached out to the Trans Doe Task Force to assist with investigation now that the genealogy is complete and identity was legally confirmed. We would like to ask that our followers forward this post to anyone they know who is or has been involved in the LGBTQ community in either Oklahoma or Wisconsin. Our involvement does not indicate that Ronnie was a member of the LGBTQ community, but there is a lack of information about a period time before his death, and the police detectives want to make sure to be as thorough as possible. We thank them for their diligence and for reaching out to work with us.
One way that we know we will be able to help is being available to be an intermediary, as many individuals within the LGBTQ community may not want to contact a police department directly. If that scenario applies to you, and you feel you have some information on this individual that should be passed along, we can be reached at transdoetaskforce@gmail.com. If you don't have information specific to this individual, but you have a tip of a local organization or a person we should contact or a research resource specific to this time and place, such as queer zine archives, please email us about that as well.
If you have information you would like to pass along directly to detectives, please contact:
Lindsey Ludden, Detective
City of Madison Police Department
608-229-8215
lludden@cityofmadison.com
