🎥 Sheriff IDs remains found 37-years ago as Kansas teen

Doña Ana County, New Mexico—Law enforcement authorities investigating remains found almost four decades ago have identified the victim as a missing Kansas teen.

The Doña Ana County New Mexico Sheriff’s office on Tuesday said they have identified remains found 37 years ago as those of 16-year-old Dorothy Harrison of Wichita who had been reported missing in 1984.

(Click below to watch the news conference)

 Harrison was last seen about 5 p.m. July 25, 1984 when she left her home in Wichita, according to to Detective Melissa Agullo. Harrison got into a car with two unknown girls. Her family reported her missing soon after.

Dorothy would frequently leave and be gone weeks on end during the summer. Law enforcement would always find her and bring her home, but she would inevitably leave again, always staying in Kansas, according to Agullo.

Approximately a week and a half after Dorothy ran away her family received a phone call from her saying she was in Los Angeles. During this time, the 1984 Summer Olympic Games were underway (July 28 – August 12, 1984.)

A few weeks later her family received another phone call from Dorothy saying that she was in El Paso, Texas and that she was on her way home. That was the last time the family heard from her.  Dorothy was likely killed between September 10, 1984, and January 10, 1985, according to Agullo.

After nearly forty years, a breakthrough came in March 2021 when the case of “Jane Doe” was assigned to Detective Agullo with the hope that new technology and investigative tools could lead to the answers that had long eluded this case.

In collaboration with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, DNA was extracted from the left femur bone of the remains of “Jane Doe.”

DNA results were then submitted to Innovative Forensics Investigations to build out a genealogical family tree. The collaborative work led to answers and after more than three decades Jane Doe was identified as 16-year-old Harrison. 

On March 10, 1985, hunters in Doña Ana County, about 50-miles north of El Paso, reported finding the human remains.

Dorothy was approximately 5-foot-1 and weighed 95 pounds. She had light brown hair, green eyes and a medium complexion. Her nostrils aren’t even and were considered lopsided. She had a small scar on the bow of her mouth. She often wore heavy eye makeup, according to Agullo. 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 white female and a black female, both older.

Anyone with information about Harrison or anyone who believes they encountered her between July 25, 1984, and the time of her death, ruled a homicide, should call the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office at 575-525-1911.

The sheriff’s office also released the following statement on behalf of Harrison’s family “Dorothy was a typical teenager; she was only 16 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 30 years ago, to our family, it is 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. We ask that you give us this time to grieve and request any questions or information about Dorothy’s murder be sent to Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart."