VANCOUVER, Wash. -- The remains of one of two homicide victims found near Vancouver have been identified after 41 years.
The Columbian reports that the remains, which were found in Dole Valley in 1974, have been identified as 17-year-old Martha Marie Morrison.
The other victim was identified early in the investigation as Carol Platt Valenzuela.
Between 1974 and 1977 the remains of an unidentified female, now known to be Morrison, were sent to several experts for anthropological evaluation, in an attempt to establish her identity.
In 1977, with no identification and all testing options at the time exhausted, the remains were archived and subsequently thought to have been lost.
The Clark County Medical Examiner's Office operations manager, Nikki Costa, in 2011 made a breakthrough in the case. She realized Morrison's remains, thought to have been lost for decades, had simply been mislabeled. She started making phone calls, and looking up records.
She said the identification was made after DNA swabs from Morrison's sister and half-brother yielded a possible match. Then tissue samples from Morisson's mother that were on file at a Springfield, Oregon, medical facility were tested.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children funded the exhumation of Morrison's father, who died in 1976 and compared DNA from the two sets of remains.
It was a match.
"Unbelievable relief. Martha's sister is in very ill health. My biggest worry is that once we found the answer that we wouldn't be able to deliver it to her before her health declined. That was the biggest relief, that I could tell her right away," said Costa.
Morrison was last seen leaving her Portland apartment after an argument in September 1974. The cause of death has not been determined.
Anyone who may have information about what happened to Morrison is asked to call the Clark County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit.
The Cold Case Unit may be contacted through their tip line, email or mailing address.
Cold Case Tip Line: (360) 397-2036
Email: coldcase@clark.wa.gov
Mailing address: Clark County Sheriff's Cold Case Unit, P.O. Box 410, Vancouver, Washington 98666
Costa is asking that anyone related to a missing person should go to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
