LINCOLN COUNTY, OREGON, Ore. — Oregon State Police (OSP) announced Wednesday that human remains of a young girl that were found in December 2020 have been identified. Two arrests, including the mother of the child, were made in the case.
According to a news release from OSP, 9-year-old Haley Mae Coblentz’s remains were found in the H.B. Van Duzer Scenic Corridor in Lincoln County, Oregon on Dec. 10, 2020. The remains were reported by a passerby who found them in a duffle bag that was left in the forest in the area.
When Coblentz’s remains were found, officials said it was likely she had been dead anywhere from one to two months due to the level of decomposition. DNA was taken from the remains and run through lab testing. It wasn’t until Oct. 4, 2021, that she was identified. Between December 2020 and October 2021, OSP said it worked through hundreds of tips from the public who it had implored to help them identify the girl.
The original information released via DNA testing indicated that the remains were of a girl:
- Age: 7-9
- Eye color: Hazel / Brown
- Hair color: Brown / Black
- Skin color: Light Brown / Fair with no freckles
- Race: She has been identified as mostly Caucasian with some Central American ancestry
- She was wearing a pull-up diaper
The Oregon State Police worked in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and ruled out more than 60 missing children by using DNA data. OSP said early on they did not believe that the remains had been reported as a missing child due to the attempt to conceal the remains.
The original rendering based on DNA information bears a striking resemblance to the photo provided by OSP of Haley Coblentz.
She was born in Colorado but lived with her biological mother and her mother’s girlfriend in various places around Oregon and the Pacific Northwest since 2015, according to OSP. She was never reported as a missing person.
On Nov. 30, 2021, OSP, with the help of the FBI in Detroit, Michigan, arrested her mother, 29-year-old Shawna Browning, and another woman, 34-year-old Lauren Harrison. They're being held without bail at a detention center in Wayne County, Michigan and have been charged with aggravated murder.