Accident – death – Obituary News :

Body Found in 1979 in Las Vegas Identified as Ohio Teenager

By Rio Yamat (Associated Press)

LAS VEGAS — A body discovered in an open field in 1979 near what is now a bustling intersection of the Las Vegas Strip has recently been identified as a teenager from Ohio who had left her home that year in search of her biological father, authorities announced on Tuesday.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department revealed that the body belonged to 19-year-old Gwenn Marie Story. For over four decades, she was known only as “Sahara Sue Doe,” a name derived from the intersection where her lifeless body was found.

The breakthrough in this cold case came about thanks to significant advancements in DNA testing, leading to the identification of Gwenn Marie Story last month.

The body was discovered by a man on the night of August 14, 1979, while he was traversing a vacant lot near the northern edge of the Las Vegas Strip. The young woman had wavy hair, and her fingernails and toenails were painted a vibrant shade of red.

Today, the Strat Hotel looms prominently over the very intersection where her body was discovered, adjacent to the Sahara hotel-casino.

Authorities believe that Gwenn Marie Story died within 24 hours prior to the discovery, as evidenced by a database entry maintained by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

An autopsy determined that she had fallen victim to a homicide. However, investigators were unable to identify her until their collaboration with a private DNA testing laboratory last September.

Othram, a specialist in forensic genealogy analysis, released a statement on Tuesday announcing that its scientists successfully built “a comprehensive DNA profile for the woman.” This breakthrough led authorities to potential relatives who provided DNA samples, ultimately confirming the true identity of “Sahara Sue Doe” as the missing Ohio teenager.

According to Story’s relatives, she left her home in Cincinnati during the summer of 1979, embarking on a journey to find her father in California. Accompanied by two male friends, she set out on her quest. Tragically, Story’s family never heard from her again.

Upon their return to the Cincinnati area in August of that same year, the two friends informed the teen’s family that they had left her in Las Vegas, coinciding with the time of Story’s untimely demise, as discovered by the police.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is now shifting its focus towards investigating the two friends and unraveling the circumstances surrounding Gwenn Marie Story’s tragic death near the iconic Las Vegas Strip.

This recent breakthrough in Gwenn Marie Story’s case comes as a result of significant advancements in genetic testing, which have played a pivotal role in identifying and apprehending culprits in long-standing unsolved cases, ranging from missing persons and homicide investigations to sexual assault cases.

Earlier this year, Othram also aided Nevada State Police in identifying a victim who had remained nameless for 45 years. Her heavily decomposed remains were discovered in a garment bag in a remote area of northern Nevada in October 1978, less than a year before Gwenn Marie Story was found dead in Las Vegas. This victim, Florence Charleston, also hailed from Ohio.

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