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    • Skull identified almost 2 years after JoAnn Dudek disappeared
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    Skull identified almost 2 years after JoAnn Dudek disappeared

    Harry Posted on

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    A woman went missing from her north Phoenix home two years ago this week, but authorities announced Tuesday that her skull was found just last week and wasn’t far from where she lived.

    JoAnn Dudek, who was 65 when she disappeared, stopped contacting her sisters on Nov. 13, 2022, the family told the Arizona Republic nearly a year ago. The Anthem resident’s three surviving sisters feared he had been murdered, and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has been handling the case as a murder investigation since early 2023..

    On Tuesday afternoon, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to The Republic that a skull found Nov. 6 in New River (about five miles north of Anthem) belonged to Dudek. Dudek’s niece, Erin Murtha, told The Arizona Republic that the Sheriff’s Office notified them of their findings Tuesday morning.

    Murtha told The Republic that the family learned from someone that Dudek was unconscious in his home the night he disappeared.

    “Our family has been waiting for something like this to come for the last two years,” Murtha said. “We had a lot of hope in the beginning as a missing person case, but as time went on we were pretty sure as a family that this was how it would end.”

    Murtha said the somber news gave the family some sense of closure, but quickly added, “We don’t believe that JoAnn went out for a walk and died. So we believe that someone is responsible for doing this to her. I really feel like we’re going to put this matter to rest until the person or person responsible for this is taken into custody.” .”

    Dudek’s sisters spoke to Cumhuriyet before the vigil honored him and was held at Anthem on November 12, 2023.

    My sister, Colleen Shanahan Adair, said at the time: “I am heartbroken and feel like I was unjustly deprived of the best years I could have enjoyed my sister.”

    The sisters told The Republic last year that Dudek’s car, cellphone and wallet were at his home when he disappeared, raising suspicions of foul play.

    ‘He has seen so much love in life’

    JoAnn Shanahan grew up in the town of Great Neck, Long Island, New York, with her three sisters and one brother. As a young woman, Dudek was a talented dancer who performed at resorts in the Catskills Mountains of southeastern New York and eventually danced at Carnegie Hall.

    “It wasn’t uncommon for JoAnn to sing and twirl around,” sister Karen Olson told The Republic last year. “He saw so much love and so much happiness in life, and when other people were happy, he was happy too.”

    Dudek had a master’s degree in social work. She and her husband, Walter, left Boston for Arizona nearly 20 years ago when they discovered the master-planned community of Anthem after a storm redirected them during a trip to California.

    “They loved it there,” Olson said.

    Erin Murtha’s mother, Terry Murtha, told The Republic last year that Walter Dudek feared the stress he was experiencing over his wife’s disappearance had accelerated the proliferation of a previously undetected brain lesion. Terry Murtha said the 67-year-old patient’s doctor recommended it after he had a seizure on New Year’s Eve 2022. He would die from another seizure in April 2023.

    Anyone with information about Dudek’s disappearance can call the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office at 602-876-TIPS (8477). Dudek’s family can be reached by email [email protected] or by calling 631-560-8340.

    Harry
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