She finally has a name and her family has the beginnings of an answer. The remains of an American teenager whose body was found in Portland in 1970 have been identified, police in Oregon, a state on the west coast of the US, said on Friday.
It was DNA that made it possible to find a name for Sandra Young, a young girl born on June 25, 1951, who disappeared in 1968 or 1969, police said. It was a boy scout who discovered the high school student's skeleton “in a shallow grave” in 1970. “Investigators found the remains of a black curly wig,” Oregon police wrote. They thought the remains were those of one [personne] African Americans and that the trauma suffered by the body suggests that it is a crime. »
In 2004, a DNA sample was used to confirm that the remains were those of a woman. A search of a missing persons file then failed.
In 2018 and 2021, further DNA testing made it possible to create a composite portrait of the young woman. Only a year ago a lead led to the identification of Sandra Young. “In January 2023, an individual uploaded his or her DNA to the GEDMatch genetic genealogy database and was immediately recognized as a potential distant family member of the deceased,” law enforcement wrote.
The circumstances of the girl's death are still unknown. Will the police still be able to find witnesses half a century after the events?