PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Forty-nine years after skeletal remains of a young woman were found in the Wolf Creek area near Swamp Mountain in Oregon, investigators have finally positively identified the body, thanks to breakthroughs in DNA evidence.
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The woman was identified as Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter, who was last seen at a Tigard shopping mall in 1974 when she was 21 years old, Oregon State Police said.
“This was one of our oldest unidentified cases. And I think it just goes to show you that no matter how long somebody persists in being unidentified, we won’t give up trying to identify them,” Oregon Forensic Anthropologist Hailey Collord-Stalder told KOIN 6 News. “There’s family out there. There’s friends out there. There’s people who are wondering what happened to them. And it’s really important that these cases continue to be worked.”
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Her remains were found in 1976 in Linn County by a moss hunter who located a skull with several teeth and notified law enforcement immediately. The moss hunter showed the Linn County Sheriff’s Office where the skull was found. Investigators recovered additional skeletal remains, a clog-style shoe, a frayed leather coat, a leather belt with beadwork, two metal rings and degraded Levi’s jeans.
The remains and personal effects of the woman were retained as evidence and were later transferred to the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office. The findings were limited at the time, though a dental examination noted several restorations. For decades, the cold case remained inactive.
Valerie Nagle is Marion McWhorter’s younger sister…