A skull found in 1986 near Interstate 80 was determined to be from a woman reported missing in South Lake Tahoe, California, in 1970, law enforcement announced Wednesday.
Donna Lass, 25, vanished in September of that year, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department explained in a Facebook post.
Ms. Lass was a nurse at a casino in neighboring Stateline, Nevada, at the time she went missing, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook.
Her case, still unsolved, went cold after leads into her disappearance were exhausted.
In 1986, a human skull was found near the interstate and declared a Jane Doe. The skull has now been identified as Ms. Lass by the California Department of Justice using DNA evidence, the sheriff’s office said.
Ms. Lass‘ sister provided her own DNA to the SLTPD five years ago, which state officials then compared to the skull.
“They had those remains sampled for DNA. It was processed, run through the system and Cal DOJ was able to get a hit on those remains based on that familial DNA that was uploaded,” SLT Police Chief David Stevenson told Sacramento NBC affiliate KCRA-TV.
Neither law enforcement agency mentioned a cause of death for Ms. Lass or whether the rest of her body was found.
“It hasn’t proven to be a homicide at this point, but we’re obviously treating it that way. From here on, it’s just a matter of following up on any leads that come in,” Chief Stevenson said.