Human Remains Found In California Confirmed To Be Missing 13-Year-Old Girl From 50 Years Ago

Human remains discovered in a California riverbed have finally been identified, and they belong to a young teenager who had been missing for half a century.

The case dates back nearly 30 years, when some skeletal remains were found in a dry riverbed in Watsonville, California. For decades, investigators had no idea who the victim was.

As reported by The Independent, while officials couldn’t confirm her identity at the time, DNA testing did verify that the remains belonged to a female individual.

But years later, the case got a new lease on life. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office teamed up with a forensic lab called Othram to carry out further testing on the remains.

Eventually, in a post shared on Facebook, the Sheriff's Office revealed that the remains belonged to a 13-year-old girl who had gone missing all the way back in 1975, after disappearing from her home in New York.

The post read: "Laura O'Malley was reported missing in New York in August of 1975, and her family had not seen or heard from her since."

Laura O’Malley was missing for 50 years Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office

"It is not known when, or under what circumstances, Laura O'Malley arrived in California."

According to the Facebook post, officials reopened the case in 2019 and used carbon dating to gather new clues. This test determined that the girl was born in 1960, and that she likely died sometime between 1977 and 1984.

"From 2022 to 2023, our office used advanced genetic genealogy to identify potential family members," they continued, explaining that this clue turned out to be the key that finally cracked the case. "Partnering with Othram, a leader in forensic DNA analysis, we were able to develop new investigative leads."

Authorities still don’t know the cause of death. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office said that the details surrounding how she died are still being investigated. They added that they are “deeply grateful” for the technological breakthroughs that finally gave Laura’s family the answers they had been waiting so long for.

A New York Daily Times article from 1978, which came three years after Laura was reported missing, mentioned that she had two sisters and one brother.

The article also noted that Laura and her siblings left their Long Island home, reportedly due to tension with their stepfather. At the time, the 13-year-old even left a note for her mother saying she wouldn’t come home if her stepfather was still living there.

Advancements in DNA testing allowed police to identify the body Getty stock images

Her parents eventually separated, but the family said that Laura never found out about it. They believe that if she had known, she might have come back home.

"Anyone with information related to this case is urged to call our dispatch at 831-471-1121." the Sheriff's Office said in its message.

This case joins other long-unsolved disappearances that have finally been resolved. One of them was that of Alfred Swinscoe, a father of six from Nottinghamshire, UK, who vanished in January 1967 after heading to the Miners Arms bar. He was never heard from again.

In a sad development, police later discovered that two people were suspected of murdering Swinscoe. However, both suspects had already passed away by the time the case was solved.

Alfred’s remains were eventually found in April 2023, bringing some closure to another decades-old mystery.