Jane Doe

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Suffolk County Medical Examiners Office (NY)

Recovery Location:

Medford, New York

Summary:

Medford Jane Doe was a woman who was found in Medford, New York on December 7, 1994. She is the last remaining unidentified victim of Robert Shulman. Despite extensive investigation, her identity has never been determined, and she remains identified only as "Medford Jane Doe." Recently, the investigation has established, through genetic genealogy, that the victim was likely Caucasian, with Western European ancestry—at least 75% attributable to England, Scotland, and Wales.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Recovery:

On the morning of December 7, 1994, a supervisor with the Suffolk County Department of Public Works stopped to inspect a discarded blue Rubbermaid garbage can along Long Island Avenue in Medford and discovered the dismembered remains of an unidentified woman inside. The victim was found along the side of Long Island Avenue in a blue Rubbermaid garbage bin by an employee of the Suffolk County Department of Public Works who at first believed the remains were a bad load of meat. She was nude and partially covered with plastic bags with a white towel or bathmat around her head. Both her arms and left leg had been removed and have not been recovered. On October 1994, Robert Shulman picked up an unidentified woman, believed to be a sex worker, in the New York City area and brought her to his room in a Hicksville rooming house, where they consumed crack cocaine together. According to Shulman's confession, he blacked out during the encounter and awoke to find her dead, claiming he had struck her repeatedly with a baseball bat; he then dismembered the body using an axe and a hacksaw to hinder identification, severing both arms and the left leg, before placing the remains in plastic bags, wrapping a towel around the head, and sprinkling baking soda and spraying air freshener to mask the odor.

Additional Details:

Shulman was arrested near his home on April 6, 1996. After interrogation, Shulman had a nervous breakdown and confessed to the three murders. On March 5, 1999, he was found guilty of the murders of the Medford Jane Doe, Bunting and Warner, with prosecutors requesting that he be sentenced to death under the state's newly enacted death penalty statutes introduced on September 1, 1995. On July 13, Shulman was sentenced to death by lethal injection and had an execution date set for August 30, but this was postponed after his defense attorneys appealed. On January 4, 2000, he pleaded guilty to the crimes, and since both killings took place before the new death penalty statute became law, he was instead sentenced to 25-years-to-life imprisonment. Robert Shulman died of undisclosed causes in 2006 at the age of 52. Barry Shulman was also questioned after Robert's arrest. During interrogation, he unexpectedly admitted that he knew about his brother's criminal activities and had, at various times over the years, helped him remove and dispose of remains from his apartment. Despite this, he denied directly participating in the murders, and on April 26, 1996, he was indicted for aiding and abetting a felony. In January 2000, Barry Shulman was convicted of aiding and abetting his brother's crimes, and was sentenced to two years imprisonment. Updated genetic genealogy findings and composite sketches were released in Medford and Bellport investigations, prosecutors say. According to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, new investigative information and updated visual renderings are being released in two longstanding cold cases — known as Medford Jane Doe and Bellport Jane Doe — in hopes that renewed attention and fresh details may generate new leads and ultimately restore the victims' identities. Two depictions of how the victim likely appeared prior to her death are included: a clay reconstruction (left), which is a three-dimensional model built on the skull using clay, and an updated composite sketch (right).

Case Last Updated:

Apr 24, 2026