In October 1986, a hunter in Two Mile Canyon, outside Malad, Idaho discovered a partial human skull. The hunter reported the finding to authorities, and led officers to the location of the discovery. As it turns out, five years prior, the partial remains of two girls were found in the area, both homicide victims, who had disappeared in 1978 from the Pocatello area. The two homicide victims were Tina Anderson and Patricia Campbell, ages 12 and 15 respectively, who's deaths remain unsolved. The Oneida County Sheriff's Office has not ruled out the possibility that the remains found in 1986 might be connected to the two homicide victims from five years earlier.
Investigators determined that the skull likely belong to an adolescent girl between the ages of 14-16. Her biogeographical origins are not clear, but an anthropological analysis suggests that she is most likely White, but possibly Hispanic. The uncertain ancestry stems from the incompleteness of the remains and the young age of the victim. The partial remains also make it hard to produce a definitive forensic facial reconstruction so the one posted here is amateur sketch not based on skeletal data.
With all leads exhausted, the Oneida County Sheriff's Office and Samantha Blatt from the Idaho State University Anthropology Department, in 2021, teamed up with Othram to see if advanced DNA testing could help provide new leads that might help identify this unknown young woman or at least identify a close family member. Blatt, having worked with Othram previously and having completed the skeletal analysis, recommended DNA and forensic genealogy to Oneida County to move the case forward and helped secure an initial donation for analysis.
A DNASolves Crowdfund has been established to help cover the costs of DNA testing and genealogical research. If anyone has information that could aid this investigation, they are encouraged to contact Sheriff Arne Jones at the Oneida County Sherriff's Office, (208) 766-2251. This has been logged in NamUS as UP13607.
Republished courtesy of DNASolves. You can view cases not yet funded here. Photo credit: DNASolves/Othram