The breakthrough in Story’s case comes amid advancements in genetic testing that in recent years have led to identifications in missing persons and cold case victims.Įarlier this year, Othram also helped Nevada State Police identify a victim who was nameless for 45 years after her heavily decayed remains were found in a garment bag in a remote area of northern Nevada in October 1978, less than a year before Story was found dead in Las Vegas. The police department says it is now turning its focus to those two friends and how Story wound up dead near the Las Vegas Strip. When the two friends returned to the Cincinnati area in August that year - the same month that Story was found dead - they told the teen’s family that they had left her in Las Vegas, police said. Story’s family never heard from her again. They said she traveled with two male friends. Story’s relatives told police that she left home in Cincinnati in the summer of 1979, in search of her father in California.

Othram, which specializes in forensic genealogy analysis, said in a statement Tuesday that its scientists built “a comprehensive DNA profile for the woman,” leading authorities to possible relatives who provided DNA samples that confirmed “Sahara Sue Doe” was the missing Ohio teen. Today, the nearby Strat Hotel looms large over that intersection, which features the Sahara hotel-casino.Īuthorities believe the victim had died within 24 hours prior to the discovery, according to an entry detailing the case in a database maintained by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.Īn autopsy revealed that she had been the victim of a homicide, police said, but investigators weren’t able to identify her until they partnered with a private DNA testing laboratory last September. She had wavy hair, and her fingernails and toenails were painted red. 14, 1979, while walking through a vacant lot near the northern edge of the Las Vegas Strip. Police said Tuesday that advancements in DNA testing led to the identification last month.Īccording to police, a man discovered the body on the night of Aug.

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