After more than a decade of searching for the identity of a young girl whose skeletal remains were found in an Opelika trailer park, authorities now know who she is and have arrested her father and his wife.

Opelika Jane Doe, also known as Baby Jane, who investigators long suspected was abused, neglected and likely the victim of homicide, has been identified as Amore Joveh Wiggins. If still alive, Amore would be 17 years old.

Her father Lamar Vickerstaff Jr., a career serviceman in the U.S. Navy, is now charged with felony murder. His wife Ruth Vickerstaff, who is not Amore’s mother, is charged with failure to report a missing child.

A press conference is underway in Opelika. Opelika Police Chief Shane Healey was visibly emotional in announcing the break in the case.

“The level of dedication to this case I’ve never seen in my entire career,’’ Healey said. “It felt really good to say her name out loud.”

Investigators were able to put the pieces together with the help of Othram Inc., a Texas-based company that uses highly-specialized DNA sequencing and genomics to advance biometrics and human identification, and renowned genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter, who helped police identify the Golden State Killer.

Othram specializes in forensic testing and works on the cutting edge of DNA and scientific techniques to help identify victims, locate missing persons and uncover perpetrators of crime.

“Amore suffered unspeakable abuse before she was murdered and it was heartbreaking to listen at the press conference as Sergeant White and Captain Clifton recounted the decade-long effort to uncover her identity and bring the responsible parties to justice,” said David Mittelman, Othram CEO. “I am grateful that we were able to provide our DNA technology to assist in this case.”

They learned Amore was born in January 2006 and that her mother – 37-year-old Sherry Wiggins – lost custody of her in 2009. Amore went to live with his father and his girlfriend, and the mother lost all contact with her.

In January 2012, Opelika police responded to Brookhaven Trailer Park, located at 1775 Hurst Street in Opelika on a report of skeletal remains being found.

A skull was located in the yard of a residence while the majority of the bones were located only a few feet into the wood line behind a trailer and the adjacent lot.

During the search of the area, a pink child’s shirt and a small bundle of curly hair were also recovered.

The remains were sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Va., where a medical examination was performed.

The report stated that the remains were of a Black female likely between 4 to 7 years old who became affectionately known to the community as Baby Jane Doe.

An autopsy was performed and showed fractures to her skull, arms, legs, shoulders, and ribs; totaling more than 15 individual fractures that were attributed to blunt force trauma, authorities said.

These injuries all had evidence of healing and occurred sometime prior to her death.

Additionally, the medical examiner suggested that Jane Doe may have been malnourished and blind in her left eye due to a fracture in her eye socket. Jane Doe’s death was determined to be a homicide and believed to have occurred between the summer of 2010 to 2011.

Since the discovery of Jane Doe’s remains, detectives have reviewed over 15,000 case files from the Alabama Department of Public Health and investigated thousands of tips.

In 2016, investigators received a tip that Opelika Jane Doe may have attended Vacation Bible School at Greater Peace Church in 2011, three miles from where her remains were found.

Photos from the Bible School were released, and investigators believed the child in the photographs was the unidentified child. Healey said Thursday they still aren’t sure if those are photos of Amore.

The Opelika Police Department had previously attempted to develop a DNA profile for Jane Doe however, they were unsuccessful due to the condition of the remains.

In January 2022, Opelika Jane Doe’s remains were sent to Othram’s laboratory in the The Woodlands, Texas.

Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the remains and built a comprehensive genealogical profile.

Finally, Othram uploaded the profile to a genealogical database to enable a search for genetic relatives.

For the genetic genealogy research, police retained Rae-Venter, who is a genealogist, biologist, and retired patent attorney. Her team, Firebird Forensics Group, produced investigative leads which were returned to Opelika Police Department.

In October 2022, Jane Doe’s father was identified as the 50-year-old Vickerstaff, who was born and raised in Opelika before he enlisted in the U.S. Navy.

During his lengthy Navy career, Vickerstaff lived in Norfolk, Va., Honolulu, Hawaii and Jacksonville, Fla.

In December of 2022, Opelika detectives traveled to the Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, where Vickerstaff is currently stationed, to notify him of his daughter’s death.

During the meeting, Vickerstaff did not provide investigators with any information on the identity of Jane Doe.

Detectives then met with Vickerstaff’s wife, who has been married to him since May of 2006. She told investigators she did not know his daughter or who may be the mother of Jane Doe.

Rae-Venter was able to determine several possible matches for Jane Doe’s mother and detectives were able to narrow the results down to a woman in Maryland.

In December of 2022, detectives met with Wiggins who confirmed she was the biological mother of Jane Doe.

A native of Norfolk, Wiggins said she gave birth Amore in 2006.

She provided documentation showing that Lamar and Ruth Vickerstaff obtained legal and physical custody of her daughter in 2009, at which time her visitation with Amore was suspended.

Wiggins also provided documents indicating that she has continuously paid child support to Lamar Vickerstaff since 2009.

Follow up DNA testing at Othram, using KinSNP familial relationship testing, supported the parent-child relationship of both Sherry Wiggins and Lamar Vickerstaff to the DNA profile that Othram developed from the remains of the little girl.

Detectives reached out to the school boards and pediatric clinics in several states where Lamar and Ruth Vickerstaff lived and determined that Amore was never enrolled in school nor was, she reported as a missing person.

Opelika detectives then met with the Lee County District Attorney’s Office to seek criminal charges.

On Jan. 17, 2023, Lamar and Ruth Vickerstaff were arrested in Jacksonville, Florida.

They are currently being held at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office pending extradition to Lee County. Healey said they’ve waived extradition, and authorities are making preparations to return them to Alabama.

Th case remains under investigation, and detectives need the public’s assistance in gathering additional details regarding Lamar and Ruth Vickerstaff’s relationship with Amore Wiggins and her time spent in Opelika.

Anyone with information is asked to the Opelika Police Department Detective Division at 334-705-5220 or the Secret Witness Hotline at 334-745-8665.

This is a developing story and will be updated.