Oregon police use DNA to identify remains of woman after 54 years

Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Oregon State Police said they were able to use an advanced DNA technique to identify the remains of a teenager who died more than 50 years ago.

Authorities said that the skeletal remains of Sandra Young were found in a shallow grave in 1970. While an investigation by the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office determined that Young died from trauma to the body, her identity remained elusive.

Dr. Nici Vance, the program coordinator of the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office, said over the decades, her office built an extensive DNA profile of the remains, including the creation of predictive facial characteristics in 2021 from its Parabon NanoLabs. Possibly family trees were also developed.

Authorities received their strongest lead in January 2023 when they received a match from a possible distant relative when a person entered their DNA into an open-source genetic genealogy database GEDMatch. The match sparked personal interviews with possible family members and research.

That eventually led to Young's sister with a DNA test confirming their relationship.

"Sandra Young has now regained her identity after 54 years," Vance said. "Her story represents a remarkable amount of diligence and collaboration between family members, detectives, Oregon State Medical Examiner staff and our contract laboratory Parabon NanoLabs.

"This is yet another example of the innovative ways the ME's Office and investigative genetic genealogy can help Oregonians find closure."

Oregon Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sean Hurst said Portland Police have been informed by the identification to open a case into Young's death.

Family members told authorities she had not been seen since 1968 or 1969 and they also lost another sister to gun violence in the 1970s.

Such DNA genealogical advances have helped authorities crack cold cases, such as the 1980s Golden State Killer murders in 2018.

In January, Virginia police announced DNA evidence tied a deceased fisherman to the deaths of three people in the 1980s dubbed then as the Colonial Parkway Murders.