On February 2, 2018, Sheriff’s Cold Case Homicide Detectives arrested Donald Lee Scott for the murder of Anne Levee. On December 10, 1988, the body of an unidentified female was located by Donald Scott in the area of 99th Avenue and Carefree Highway, Maricopa County Arizona. Mr. Scott contacted the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to report what he had discovered. Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the location and requested that Homicide Detectives respond to the scene and take over the investigation. Mr. Scott was questioned initially and released from the scene.
Homicide Detectives processed the scene and began to conduct their investigation. The unidentified victim was transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office where an autopsy was conducted. The Medical Examiner determined that the victim had been shot multiple times and recovered biological evidence from her person. This evidence was given to Sheriff’s Detectives who sent the evidence to the Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) Crime Lab to be processed. At the time, not much could be done with this evidence other than determining blood type.
Detectives were able to identify the victim as Anne Levee through fingerprints. All of the people she associated with were contacted and interviewed. Sheriff’s Detectives continued with their investigation but were unable to identify a suspect.
In 2003, this case was re-examined by Sheriff’s Detectives and the biological evidence was re-submitted to AZDPS crime lab at which point a DNA profile was obtained and entered into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System). CODIS was searched but no matches were discovered. In 2014, Mr. Scott was convicted of Aggravated Harassment and a DNA sample was taken from him and entered into CODIS due to this conviction. In December of 2016, the AZDPS identified a CODIS match from the biological evidence recovered in 1988 from Ms. Levee’s body to Donald Scott.
Sheriff’s Cold Case Detectives worked closely with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit and the Maricopa County Probation Department in attempting to identify subjects from the original case and tracking Mr. Scott. On February 2, 2018, Detectives contacted and arrested Mr. Scott for the murder of Ms. Levee. Mr. Scott was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on one count of 1st Degree Murder and one count of Sexual Assault.