Missing Anthem woman's skull found nearly 2 years to the day she disappeared

A woman went missing from her north Phoenix home two years ago this week, but authorities on Tuesday disclosed her skull was found just last week and not too far from where she lived.

JoAnn Dudek, who was 65 years old at the time of her disappearance, had stopped communicating with her sisters on Nov. 13, 2022, the family told The Arizona Republic about a year ago. The Anthem resident's three surviving sisters feared she had been killed, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has been working her case as a homicide investigation since early 2023.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office confirmed to The Republic that a skull discovered Nov. 6 in New River — about 5 miles north of Anthem — belongs to Dudek. Dudek's niece, Erin Murtha, told The Arizona Republic that the Sheriff's Office had informed them Tuesday morning about their findings.

Murtha told The Republic that the family learned from someone that Dudek had been knocked unconscious at her home the night she went missing.

"Our family has been expecting something like this to come for the better part of two years," Murtha said. "We had a lot of hope at the beginning of this as a missing person's case, but as the time had gone on, we as a family were pretty confident that this (was) how this was going to end."

Murtha said the somber news did give the family some sense of closure, but quickly added, "We don't believe that JoAnn took a walk and died. So, we believe that someone is responsible for having done this to her. ... We don't really feel like we'll have any closure until the people or person responsible for this are in custody."

Dudek's sisters spoke with The Republic ahead of a vigil honoring her and held Nov. 12, 2023, in Anthem.

"I'm broken, and I feel cheated out of the best years I could have enjoyed my sister, for no reason," sister Colleen Shanahan Adair said at the time.

The sisters told The Republic last year that Dudek's car, cellphone and wallet were at her home when she went missing, raising suspicions of foul play.

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

"It was just not uncommon for JoAnn just to kind of burst out into song and twirl about," sister Karen Olson told The Republic last year. "She saw a lot of love in life and a lot of happiness in life, and she was happy when other people were happy."

Dudek had a master's degree in social work. She and her husband, Walter, left Boston for Arizona around 20 years ago when they discovered the master-planned community of Anthem following a storm that had rerouted them during a road trip to California.

"They just loved it there," Olson said.

Erin Murtha's mom, Terry Murtha, told The Republic last year that Walter Dudek feared the stress he incurred from his wife's disappearance had possibly accelerated the proliferation of a previously undetected brain lesion. The 67-year-old's physician suggested as much after he had a seizure New Year's Eve 2022, Terry Murtha said. He would die of a subsequent seizure in April 2023.

Anyone with information on Dudek's disappearance may call the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office at 602-876-TIPS (8477). Dudek's family may be reached by emailing or calling 631-560-8340.