LINN COUNTY, OR – The Oregon State Police announced this week that skeletal remains discovered in 1976 near Wolf Creek in Linn County have been identified as 21-year-old Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter, who vanished in 1974.

A moss hunter first discovered part of a skull in July 1976 near Swamp Mountain. Investigators later recovered additional remains along with clothing items, jewelry, and shoes. Despite examinations by medical experts and a forensic artist’s facial reconstruction, the young woman’s identity remained a mystery for decades.

Advances in forensic genetic genealogy finally brought answers. In 2020, a grant allowed the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office to apply advanced DNA techniques with assistance from Parabon NanoLabs. A breakthrough came earlier this year when a relative’s DNA uploaded to a genealogy database helped investigators narrow their search. Further testing confirmed the remains were McWhorter, who had last been seen at a Tigard shopping mall in 1974.

Detectives located McWhorter’s surviving sister in the Seattle area, who provided a DNA sample and shared her story of a missing sibling. Genetic evidence confirmed the identification, which was formally made by Oregon Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sean Hurst.

“This case was cold for 49 years. That means family members lived and died without ever knowing what happened to their missing loved one,” State Forensic Anthropologist Hailey Collord-Stalder said. She added that the work provided “her family with answers and helped relieve the uncertainty of what happened to Marion McWhorter”.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office continues to review the case to determine, if possible, the circumstances of McWhorter’s death.