DNA helps identify severed legs found in 2003; husband jailed
SAN DIEGO — Her name was Laurie Diane Potter. She was 54. The legs found in a trash bin in Rancho San Diego in 2003 were hers.
No one ever reported the Temecula resident missing. It took 17 years, DNA, genetic genealogy and determined sheriff ’s detectives to discover who she was.
And, sheriff ’s officials announced Friday, they have arrested her husband on suspicion of murder.
Jack Dennis Potter, 68, was arrested Wednesday outside his home in Rancho Cucamonga. He remained jailed without bail Friday.
San Diego County sheriff’s officials released the couple’s names Friday. They asked that anyone who may have known the couple anytime from the mid-1980s onward to come forward.
The Sheriff’s Department has started using investigative genetic genealogy, taking crime scene DNA from an unknown person and trying to match it with family members who have uploaded their DNA into publicly accessible databases. It’s how authorities identified the Golden State Killer in 2018.
Genetic genealogy is usually used to identify a suspect. Potter’s case marks the first time a law enforcement agency in San Diego has used the method to identify a victim.
On Oct. 5, 2003, a pair of women’s legs were found in a trash bin at an apartment complex. But the remains could not be identified, and the case went cold.
In June 2020, sheriff’s cold case team revisited the case. They worked with the crime lab and the county coroner. Detectives did the genealogy work.
They entered the DNA from the legs into public databases and found similar DNA from a distant relative. They began to build a family tree to find the common ancestor between the victim and the relative.
The investigators contacted about 20 people in the victim’s family tree who agreed to share their DNA to help detectives figure out her name, Det. Troy Dugal said. Six months later, they found Potter’s adult son and determined the legs were hers.
Once detectives knew their victim’s name, the homicide investigation began.
“We went back through her life and tried to identify who she was and where she was living, who were her friends and family during that time frame,” homicide Lt. Tom Seiver said.
Detectives did not say what they think happened, or how they think Potter was killed, citing the ongoing investigation. But, Seiver said, they developed “substantial cause to believe that Jack Potter had murdered Laurie Potter.”
Anyone with information about Potter’s case was asked to call the Sheriff ’s homicide unit at (858) 285-6330 or after hours at (858) 5655200.
Anonymous tips can be left by calling Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477, or online at sdcrimestoppers.org.