Gertrude Elliott-Littlehale : "1985 Remains Identified as Woman Born 1864"

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Accident – Death – Obituary News :

Skeletal Remains Found in California Identified as Woman Born During American Civil War

Skeletal remains discovered in a plastic bag in California in 1985 have finally been identified as those of a woman who was born during the American Civil War and passed away over a century ago. The breakthrough in this cold case was made possible by the diligent work of a lab specializing in forensic genetic genealogy.

The partial skeletal remains were found in October 1985, near Channel Islands Harbor just west of Los Angeles. At the time of discovery, it was determined that the bones belonged to a woman aged between 35 and 50 at the time of her death. However, no further information was available, leaving the case shrouded in mystery for decades.

Despite efforts from law enforcement, the case remained unsolved until 2016, when case information was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. A facial reconstruction was created, but it failed to generate any new leads. It wasn’t until May 2023 that the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office-Cold Case Unit decided to submit the forensic evidence to Othram, a Texas-based lab known for using DNA evidence and forensic genetic genealogy to identify remains.

Othram’s scientists successfully extracted DNA from the remains and conducted forensic-grade genome sequencing to create a more comprehensive DNA profile. This profile led to the identification of the woman as Gertrude Elliott-Littlehale, who was born in 1864 and died in 1915.

Elliott-Littlehale had been buried, but her grave was later robbed, with her skull removed and her resting place disturbed. Plastic bags similar to the one containing her remains became popular in the 1960s and 70s before becoming widespread in the 80s, according to the United Nations’ Environment Programme.

With this identification, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office now has closure on a case that had remained unsolved for nearly four decades. This marks the 38th case in California where Othram’s technology has been instrumental in identifying individuals from cold cases.

Similar cases where decades-old remains have been identified include Rodney Rumsey, who went missing in the 1980s, and Sherman George, a California resident who passed away in Arizona in 1996 and remained unidentified until recently.