Dateline: Inside the mysterious disappearance of Ada Kaplan Moore that remains unsolved

At the California Homicide Investigators Association Conference this year, Dateline came across the unsolved case of Ada Kaplan Moore. The case has remained unsolved for several years, and the investigators are eager to solve the mystery surrounding it.

The investigator of the case, Detective Ashley Thompson, has opened up about the gruesome details of the case.

Dateline sheds light on Ada Kaplan Moore’s case

1) Discovery of Jane Doe’s body

While speaking to Dateline, Detective Ashley Thompson reveals that on March 29, 2011, the decapitated body of a woman was found. The location was an orchard in Arvin, California.

An employee of the location came across the body and reported the situation. When the authorities from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office arrived, they noted that the case was a homicide. However, as the body could not be identified, it became a Jane Doe case.

2) Lack of evidence

In the interview with Dateline, Detective Ashley Thompson notes that at the location where Ada Kaplan Moore’s body was found, there were no notes present around it.

She further added that the investigators pointed out that Ada Kaplan Moore’s body was “just placed there”. After the discovery of the body, the identity of the body remained a mystery for several years.

3) A breakthrough in identifying the body

While speaking to Dateline, Thompson added that though the identity of Jane Doe remained a mystery for many years after the body was found, a breakthrough arrived in 2023.

“Forensic investigative genetic genealogy” became the path to identify the body, revealing that it was Ada Kaplan Moore who was brutally murdered in 2011. At the time of her death, Ada was 64 years old. After Ada’s identity came to the forefront, Thompson received the charge of the case.

4) Progress in Ada Kaplan Moore’s case

Though the aspect of “Forensic investigative genetic genealogy” being able to identify Ada was a breakthrough, soon further hindrances arrived in the investigation of the case. Thompson tells Dateline that after the investigation into the case began, they first tried to “find anybody who knew her”.

Though Thompson was able to speak to Ada’s husband, it did not lead to the revelation of any significant information that could help the progress of the case. The investigators have also not been able to find any information regarding Ada’s ties to the location where her body was found, as she was from Canyon Country.

5) Present situation of Ada Kaplan Moore’s case

During her conversation with Dateline, Thompson revealed that there is no information regarding Ada’s family members through whom significant information could be found. Ada does not have any children as well. Hence, to solve the mystery of Ada Kaplan Moore’s case, Thompson is eager to give the case much more exposure.

Thompson is searching for someone who “had an interaction” with Ada Kaplan Moore and will be able to remember her. Thompson is quite affected by how she does not receive any “phone calls for Ada,” even though she gets multiple phone calls “from loved ones all the time” asking her for updates regarding cases. This case also has a distinct significance to Thompson, as she thinks that if she is not able to solve the case, nobody is going to care to solve it.