10-03-2025
Officials identify transgender woman found dead along a Florida highway in the 1980s
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Officials have identified a transgender woman found dead alongside a Florida highway over three decades ago.
Pamela Leigh Walton's body was discovered about 30 feet away from County Road 474 in Clermont on Sept. 25, 1988, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
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In 2015, DNA testing revealed the remains belonged to a person who was assigned male at birth. The body found along the highway was wearing a skirt and had breast implants, and there was evidence she may have been taking female hormone replacement therapy.
The medical examiner's office assisted the DNA Jane Doe Project in identifying the woman decades after her death. With genealogists' help, the sheriff's office contacted possible relatives, who submitted their own DNA for testing.
They learned Walton was born a male in Kentucky and was put up for adoption. She changed her name to Pamela Leigh Walton as an adult.
The sheriff's office said it is unknown how Walton ended up in Florida.
Her body laid abandoned in a rural, heavily wooded area for up to a month after she died. The sheriff's office is still working to determine her cause of death.
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