More than two decades after a woman’s remains were found at a home being built in California, they’ve been identified, police said.
The remains, which were found at a Redondo Beach home construction site in 2001, were identified as Catherine Parker-Johnson, the city’s police department said in a June 23 news release.
Construction workers happened upon “a plastic bag in the backyard of a new home site,” DNA Doe Project, the forensic genealogy nonprofit that helped identify the remains, said in a news release. Inside “was a headless skeleton.”
The body couldn’t be identified, police said.
“Authorities believed she died sometime between 1974 and 2001,” the nonprofit said.
Police said despite their investigation, the case went cold.
Then, in 2019, they said they sought the help of DNA Doe Project, which uses “investigative genetic genealogy to identify John and Jane Doe unidentified remains.”
Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.
DNA Doe Project created a “genealogical profile” for the unidentified woman, police said.
From there, the nonprofit said it tracked down her potential relatives, who offered DNA samples, allowing investigators to “further zero in on the correct branch of the family tree” and locate Catherine Parker-Johnson on that tree.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation collected DNA from Parker-Johnson’s family in March, and a month later, the California Department of Justice confirmed the remains found more than 21 years ago belonged to Parker-Johnson, police said.
Parker-Johnson was never reported missing, according to police.
“Family members last had contact with Catherine during May of 1981,” police said, adding her “last record of any contact” was in August 1981 in Lennox, about 10 miles northeast of Redondo Beach.
Parker-Johnson’s death is being investigated as a homicide, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 310-379-2477.
Redondo Beach is about 20 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.