Latest news with #NationalUnidentifiedPersonDNAindex
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
She Vanished Decades Ago. Then Her Skeletal Remains Were Mailed to Police — and Now She's Been ID'd
Kay Medin, a school teacher, vanished from her rural home in Northern California in 1987 Her disappearance was deemed suspicious Medin's remains were found in rural Humboldt County and later on a beach near Trinidad HeadCalifornia authorities received the missing person report on August 3, 1987. Nickolas Medin reported that he had gone on a business trip and his 48-year-old wife Kay Josephine Medin was missing when he returned to their Hyampom home. The Trinity County Sheriff's Office searched the property and the surrounding woods and area but there were no signs of the elementary school teacher. Friends and family were interviewed but no significant clues emerged. 'She never showed up at school,' Humboldt County Sheriff's Office cold case investigator Mike Fridley, who is investigating the case, tells PEOPLE. 'They checked, they contacted her school, and they said that she seemed to be in good spirits and happy and she didn't have any medical issues or anything. So that's what obviously made everybody wonder what the heck happened. Her stuff is still at the house. Her car's there. She just disappeared.' Her disappearance from the rural Northern California community was deemed suspicious. Then, on November 25, 1987, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office received a gruesome package in the mail. The box contained skeletal remains and an anonymous letter with a 'map leading to a location of more remains,' says Fridley. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. The map gave directions to a location near Ammon Ridge Road in Eastern Humboldt County. 'It's very straightforward and generic,' he says about the letter. There, detectives found more remains and were able to positively identify them to Kay using dental records. The remains were not buried. A death certificate was issued for Kay the following year in 1988. Who may have written the letter is still considered a mystery. 'It could go either way,' says Fridley. 'It could have just been somebody that was deer hunting or didn't want to get involved or could be the killer. Who knows.' The case took another twist on Feb. 16, 1993, when the Fortuna Police Department contacted the Humboldt County deputies with yet another gruesome discovery. This time, a partial skull was found on the beach near Trinidad Head, about 150 miles away from where Kay's earlier remains were discovered. However, a DNA sample was taken and entered in the California Missing Person DNA Database and the National Unidentified Person DNA index but there was no match. The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office received Community Project Funding from Congressman Jared Huffman's Office to clear the backlog of unidentified human remains cases and sent the partial skull found on the beach to the private forensic lab Othram Inc. for genetic genealogy testing. Othram later determined that the skull likely belonged to Kay in Sept. 2024. Investigators spoke to Kay's daughter and obtained a DNA sample from her. In early May 2025, the California Department of Justice confirmed the skull belonged to Kay. Now, says Fridley, he is hoping someone comes forward with information to help him solve the case. 'I'm just looking for somebody that might have information that could help with the case,' he says. 'That maybe somebody has some information that could get this case going again. And you know, a lot of times as time goes by people might come forward and talk to us that were reluctant to do that back then.' Nickolas Medin died in August 2018, he says. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office at 707-441-3024. Read the original article on People
Los Angeles Times
10-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Forensic testing links skull remains to Northern California woman missing since 1987
A man was walking along a rocky, picturesque shoreline of Trinidad Head, located about 25 miles north of Eureka, when he spotted something unusual and unnerving. The unidentified man's discovery in February 1993 turned out to be a partial human skull that he handed over to the nearby Fortuna Police Department. To help identify the remains, the police forwarded them to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department, which extracted a DNA sample and entered that into the California Missing Person DNA Database and the National Unidentified Person DNA index. The remains were unidentified until the Sheriff's Department announced this week it had linked the skull to the 1987 disappearance and death of a 48-year-old woman from Trinity County. The discovery was made through the aid of a third-party forensic tester and a federal grant. Authorities believe the skull fragments are the third set of remains belonging to Kay Josephine Medin, also known as Kay Adams, an elementary school teacher from Hyampom, who disappeared from that rural Northern California community in 1987. No witnesses, potential suspects or charges have ever filed in what authorities classified as a cold case homicide. Her husband, Nickolas, died in 2018. While there's been no progress in finding out who killed Medin, this latest set of remains provides law enforcement another clue. Law enforcement officials credit Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) for providing a community project grant designed to help clear a backlog of cold cases. Within a short span, the Sheriff's Department contacted Othram, a Texas-based forensic laboratory that specializes in genome sequencing that helps disentangle cold cases. The company claimed its assisted in solving 47 cases involving unsolved murders, unidentified remains or unresolved sexual assault kits over the last 90 days. The company utilized its forensic-grade genome sequencing to construct a DNA profile of the DNA sample from the discovered skull fragment. In September, Ortham generated new leads on the possible identity of the skull, which included Medin, to the Sheriff's Department. Included in the report were possible genetic relatives, including a daughter. Sheriff's investigators located the daughter, obtained a DNA sample and confirmed the skull was that of Medin. Ortham said in a release that Medin's case was the 63rd instance of individuals identified in California through its testing efforts. Inquiries sent to Ortham and the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department were not returned. 'While Ms. Medin's case is tragic, I am relieved for the community that it has been brought to rest,' Huffman wrote in an emailed statement. 'Funding like this to help solve cold cases can not only bring justice, but closure to families and communities. I'm proud we were able to do some of that in this case.' The Sheriff's Department said that anyone who has tips regarding Medin should contact investigator Mike Fridley at (707) 441-3024. During the summer of 1987, Medin went missing while her husband was on a business trip. The family property was searched, while friends, family and her personal doctor were interviewed. Medin's purse and personal belongings were found in her home, and the Trinity County Sheriff's Office listed her disappearance as suspicious. Reports from the time said around 100 people, mostly volunteers, searched throughout remote and woodsy Trinity County. The local sheriff acknowledged at the time in an interview that he had run out of leads. Part of the mystery was solved in November 1987 when the Humboldt County Sheriff's office received a package of skeletal remains. A letter was included with directions leading to more, but what was found was still an incomplete set of remains. Those remains were recovered in East Humboldt County, about 45 miles from the Medin home while the skull was discovered 100 miles away on the shore of Trinidad Head.
