Accident – death – Obituary News :

Body found in 1979 near Las Vegas Strip identified as missing Ohio teenager

LAS VEGAS – The body discovered in 1979 in an open field near a bustling intersection on the Las Vegas Strip has finally been identified as that of Gwenn Marie Story, a 19-year-old Ohio teenager who had embarked on a journey to find her biological father. Authorities confirmed this breakthrough on Tuesday, thanks to recent advancements in DNA testing.

The young woman, who had been known as “Sahara Sue Doe” for over four decades, was found near the intersection that now houses the towering Strat Hotel and the Sahara Hotel-Casino. A man stumbled upon her body on the night of August 14, 1979, while walking through a vacant lot on the northern edge of the Las Vegas Strip. Identified by her wavy hair and red-painted fingernails and toenails, it was evident that she had met a tragic fate.

An autopsy conducted at the time revealed that Gwenn Marie Story was a victim of homicide. However, her identity remained a mystery until authorities collaborated with a private DNA testing lab last September. Using forensic genealogy analysis, Othram, the specialized lab, successfully created a comprehensive DNA profile for the woman. By comparing this profile with potential relatives’ DNA samples, they were able to confirm that “Sahara Sue Doe” was indeed the missing teenager from Ohio.

According to Story’s family, she had left her Cincinnati home in the summer of 1979 in search of her father, accompanied by two male friends. Unfortunately, her family never heard from her again. Coincidentally, the two friends returned to Cincinnati in August of the same year, the exact month when Story’s lifeless body was discovered in Las Vegas. They informed the family that they had left her in the city.

With the identification of Gwenn Marie Story, authorities are now focusing their investigation on those two friends and the circumstances surrounding her death near the iconic Las Vegas Strip.

This development in Story’s case highlights the progress made in genetic testing, which has contributed to solving missing persons cases and cold case mysteries in recent years. Othram, the same lab that aided in identifying Story, also played a crucial role in helping Nevada state police identify Florence Charleston earlier this year. Charleston had remained nameless for 45 years after her severely decomposed remains were discovered in a garment bag in a remote area of northern Nevada in October 1978, less than a year before Story was found dead in Las Vegas. It is noteworthy that Charleston, too, had gone missing from Ohio.

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