A teenager whose body was found in a remote New Mexico desert in 1985 has been identified 37 years after her murder, the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
The remains of 16-year-old Dorothy Harrison were found by hunters near a telephone relay building off of County Road E073, about 1.2 miles north of the Upham, New Mexico exit off of Interstate 25, DASO Investigator Melissa Agullo said.
Investigators believe Harrison had died three to six months before her remains were discovered.
Agullo said the estimated date of death was between Sept. 10, 1984, to Jan. 10, 1985.
DNA that was extracted from Harrison's left femur bone was submitted to forensics, Agullo said.
The DNA was then used to build a genealogical family tree which helped identify the remains as Harrison's.
"The end of this process is a file like one would get from 23 and Me or Ancestry... one of the direct consumer companies. Where you spit in a tube and they take DNA out of your saliva. But the input is very different," said Ed Gream with Astrea Forensics.
Investigators said Harrison left her home in Wichita, Kansas on July 5, 1984, around 5 p.m.
Harrison's family then reported her missing.
When she was last seen she was getting into a vehicle that was described as a big tan long car. Dorothy was picked up by two unknown females described as a white female and a black female, both older," Agullo said.
Harrison called her parents in August 1984 and told the she was in Los Angeles, California, Agullo said.
Weeks later, Harrison called her family and told them she was in El Paso, Texas and on her way home to Wichita.
Agullo said that was the last time Harrison's family heard from her.
Dorothy's case has been classified as a homicide and the cause of death has yet to be determined," said Agullo.
Harrison's family has been notified and is working to bring her remains back to Kansas for burial, according to Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart.
Stewart hopes to get more information on the case.
"We’re going to follow these leads. This is hopefully going to her hometown to Wichita, Kansas today. We hope that this will, along with her photo, along with pictures of her clothing, this will ring a bell to someone who is still alive or someone who remembers her or someone who remembers her last days," said Stewart.
The family asked the sheriff to read the following statement on their behalf:
Dorothy was the typical teenager. She was only sixteen years old when this horrific crime happened to her. Like most teens, she was sometimes unhappy at home and easily influenced. She left home with some people she thought were her friends and we never saw her again. The news of her death is devastating and even though this crime happened over thirty years ago, to our family it's new and incredibly difficult information to process. We have so many unanswered questions and are hopeful that the continued investigation will be able to provide some of those answers.
The Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office is asking for anyone with information about what happened to Harrison to come forward.
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