Jane dropped out of university when her guardian (her aunt) passed away. She stuck around Charlotte working at bars until her coworker, John, recommended she get outta dodge and start fresh. He put a recommendation in for her at Bandaids, a popular night club in NYC, and the rest is history.
Jane's parents immigrated to South Carolina, divorced, and passed away by her early teens. She spent high school living with her aunt in North Carolina and stayed local for university as her aunt fell ill with cancer. She secretly dropped out to take care of her aunt full-time and never went back.
Jane took John's advice to heart. She had a complicated relationship with her mother, who had full custody at the time, and cared deeply for her aunt. In an effort to not think about her past at all, she followed through with the move to New York. She does not keep in contact with anyone from either Carolina.
I picked "Jane Doe" not only because of the irony of her condition as a half-dead girl, but also because in her life before the Verinis, no one living would have been able to identify her body had she actually died.
I included her full history above because it isn't detailed in Death and doesn't need to be. It definitely colors some of her interactions, decisions, and thought patterns but in the grand scheme of the Verinis, they weren't in the place to question where the hell Jane came from. The most up-front Jane has been about her past was at the police station when she told the officer she had no one to call. Lenny was a bit too distressed (clearly, and for good reason) to linger on this, but Lenny remembers all her interactions and will undoubtedly revisit Jane's comment in the future.
Jane's dedication to the Verinis and wanting to be involved in family matters fully stems from her long-standing want for the large, close-knit family she only ever had with her aunt.
