Skeletal remains found in a plastic bag in the 1980s, identified as a woman born in 1864

Skeletal remains found in a plastic bag in California in 1985 have been identified as those of a woman who was born during the American Civil War and died more than a century ago, according to a laboratory that works with law enforcement agencies to solve cold cases across the country. .

The partial skeletal remains were found in October 1985 in a plastic bag near the Channel Islands Harbor, just west of Los Angeles, Othram, a laboratory specializing in forensic genetic genealogy, said in a news release. At the time, it was determined that the bones belonged to a woman who was between 35 and 50 years old when she died, but no other information was available. Agents from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

The case remained cold for decades. In 2016, case information was entered into the National System for Missing and Unidentified Persons and a facial reconstruction was made from clay. A photo of the reconstruction was released publicly to try to generate new leads, but no matches were found despite “extensive efforts” by law enforcement, Othram said.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office-Cold Case Unit worked with the county medical examiner’s office in May 2023 to present the case’s forensic evidence to Othram. The Texas-based laboratory uses DNA evidence and other analyzes such as forensic genetic genealogyto help identify remains like those found in this case.

Othram scientists developed a DNA extract, the company said, and performed it forensic genome sequencing, which only requires a small DNA sample to create a more complete profile. From that DNA profile, the company’s genetic genealogy team began conducting extensive research, which provided new leads.

Researchers made contact with potential relatives and finally a reference DNA sample was taken from a possible relative. That DNA sample allowed police to identify the remains as those of Gertrude Elliott-Littlehale, born in 1864 and died in 1915.

Elliott-Littlehale had been buried, but her grave had been robbed, Othram said. The company did not specify when the grave was desecrated, but said her skull was removed and the resting place was otherwise “disturbed.” Plastic bags like Elliott-Littlehale’s remains were first adapted in the 1960s and 1970s, according to the United Nations Environment Program, before spreading in the 1980s.

Othram did not say what the sheriff’s office plans to do with the now-identified remains.

This is the 38th case in which California officials have publicly identified an individual using Othram’s technology, the company said.

Similar research has helped officials identify decades-old remains, such as those of Rodney Rumseywho went missing in the 1980s, and the body of Sherman Georgea California resident who died in Arizona in 1996 and whose body was unknown until last year.