PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Forty-nine years after skeletal remains of a young woman were found in the Wolf Creek area near Swamp Mountain in Oregon, investigators have finally positively identified the body, thanks to breakthroughs in DNA evidence.

The woman was identified as Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter, who was last seen at a Tigard shopping mall in 1974 when she was 21 years old, Oregon State Police said.

“This was one of our oldest unidentified cases. And I think it just goes to show you that no matter how long somebody persists in being unidentified, we won’t give up trying to identify them,” Oregon Forensic Anthropologist Hailey Collord-Stalder told local affiliate KOIN 6 News. “There’s family out there. There’s friends out there. There’s people who are wondering what happened to them. And it’s really important that these cases continue to be worked.”

Her remains were found in 1976 in Linn County by a moss hunter who located a skull with several teeth and notified law enforcement immediately. The moss hunter showed the Linn County Sheriff’s Office where the skull was found. Investigators recovered additional skeletal remains, a clog-style shoe, a frayed leather coat, a leather belt with beadwork, two metal rings and degraded Levi’s jeans.

The remains and personal effects of the woman were retained as evidence and were later transferred to the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office. The findings were limited at the time, though a dental examination noted several restorations. For decades, the cold case remained inactive.

Valerie Nagle is Marion McWhorter’s younger sister.

“I was 11 and just about to turn 12 when we last heard from her on October 26th, 1974,” Nagle told KOIN 6 News.

She said McWhorter was in the midst of a hitchhiking trip from California to Seattle when she went missing in the Tigard area.

“It was just a really traumatic time. We had lost my next oldest brother, in March of ’74. And that affected all of us,” said Nagle, adding that she “always wanted to know what happened” to her sister.

“It’s kind of hard to process everything all at once, even though it has been this long. And I’ve had to carry this for so long,” Nagle said. “There wasn’t any space made for me to grieve or process any of this, so I’m doing that now. I think that’s going to help a lot.”

In 2010, movement in the case began with a full anthropological report by the Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, with the biological profile estimating she was a white female under 35 at the time of her death.

Though she remained unidentified, a bone sample was submitted to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification later that same year, setting the stage for a modern DNA forensic examination to take place. A NamUS profile was created.

In 2011, a forensic artist with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office helped make a forensic rendering of the woman’s face based on cranial features. A clay model was created with different hairstyles and colors in the hopes that someone would recognize the face.

The State Medical Examiner’s Office gave significant attention to the case from 2011 to 2025. The DNA results of the remains were uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System. However, no genetic association was discovered until very recently.

In 2020, a grant for DNA testing of cold cases brought law enforcement closer to finding answers. However, it was a relative’s DNA profile uploaded earlier this year by happenstance that finally helped identify the remains after nearly half a century, as OSP explained in a press release:

“By 2020, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office had been awarded a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grant to perform advanced DNA techniques on unsolved unidentified skeletal remains cases. This case was recognized as one that could potentially be resolved through DNA phenotyping and investigative genetic genealogy, provided by OSP’s vendor lab, Parabon NanoLabs. An additional bone sample was submitted for DNA extraction, and in November 2020, a SNP DNA (a unique genetic marker) profile was successfully produced and analyzed.

“A Parabon NanoLabs DNA Snapshot Report, which utilizes genetic material to determine eye color, hair color, skin tone, and ancestry, was completed. The report predicted the individual was of European and Indigenous North American descent, with unfreckled fair skin, brown eyes, and brown hair. A rendering of her facial characteristics was created and used as her NamUs profile picture. A subsequent genetic genealogy report was completed in 2023, but did not produce any promising leads.

“A breakthrough in the case occurred in April 2025, when someone spontaneously uploaded their genetic profile to the Family Tree DNA database, providing genealogists with a much closer look into the unidentified woman’s family tree. Forensic scientists followed genetic and other leads and ultimately determined that McWhorter was likely the unidentified young woman.

“Genealogists found that McWhorter had one surviving family member, a younger sister living in the Seattle area. A detective with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office contacted the sister, who provided an oral swab for DNA comparison and shared the story of her long-lost older sister.

“Genetic evidence confirmed that the decedent was Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter, born on January 7, 1953, and who had been unaccounted for since 1974. Based on the totality of the evidence, Oregon Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sean Hurst positively identified the remains and confirmed the findings with McWhorter’s remaining family.”

Questions remain about the case and the Linn County Sheriff’s Office is currently working to determine, if possible, the circumstances surrounding McWhorter’s death. Though the case is still ongoing, Oregon Forensic Anthropologist Hailey Collord-Stalder said McWhorter “likely did not go missing voluntarily.”