45 Years After Remains Were Found in Nevada, an Ohio Woman Is ID'd as the Victim

Florence Charleston.Photo:Nevada State PoliceA missing Ohio woman has been identified nearly 45 years after police found her remains stuffed inside of a clothes bag in a remote Nevada town.The missing persons cold case confounded investigators for almost half a century before they turned to a proven forensics lab for help in March 2022. The lab, Othram, used DNA found inside the bag to help Nevada police finally identify Florence Charleston, who they believe was in her late 60s at the time of her mysterious death.Now, Charleston’s distant relatives back in Ohio are wondering how she died.At the time Charleston’s remains were first discovered in 1978, police said that “due to the remains being heavily decayed, a cause of death could not be determined,” according to localKTNV.Nevada State Police said in a news release they still don’t know what caused Charleston’s death or how she ended up buried inside a bag in Imlay, Nev., according toThe Associated Press. Imlay is a small town roughly one square mile with a population of about 200, roughly 50 miles east of the Black Rock Desert and two hours northeast of Reno.Diane Liggitt, Charleston’s niece and one of her few remaining relatives, told the AP her father had said Charleston moved to Portland, Oregon from Ohio with a new boyfriend in the early 1970s.In a separatenews releasedetailing its identification process, Othram said Charleston’s family “lost contact with her around 1978.”Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.“Was she happy, or not? Was she safe?” Liggitt had long wondered, she told the AP. “All these questions I had, and it turns out she was dead.”Liggitt said Nevada investigators contacted her in April to connect the dots after Othram’s DNA testing came back. “You found my Aunt Dolly?” Liggitt remembered telling Nevada State Police Detective Sean Koester when he called to ask her about her long-lost aunt.Police failed to identify Charleston’s remains for decades, using digital facial reconstruction, comparing dental records to other missing persons cases, and trying to use the clothing found in the bag as clues to what happened and to whom.Now with the help of advances in genealogical testing, investigators and Charleston’s remaining family members have the answer to at least one of those lingering questions.

Florence Charleston.Photo:Nevada State Police

Nevada State Police

A missing Ohio woman has been identified nearly 45 years after police found her remains stuffed inside of a clothes bag in a remote Nevada town.The missing persons cold case confounded investigators for almost half a century before they turned to a proven forensics lab for help in March 2022. The lab, Othram, used DNA found inside the bag to help Nevada police finally identify Florence Charleston, who they believe was in her late 60s at the time of her mysterious death.Now, Charleston’s distant relatives back in Ohio are wondering how she died.At the time Charleston’s remains were first discovered in 1978, police said that “due to the remains being heavily decayed, a cause of death could not be determined,” according to localKTNV.Nevada State Police said in a news release they still don’t know what caused Charleston’s death or how she ended up buried inside a bag in Imlay, Nev., according toThe Associated Press. Imlay is a small town roughly one square mile with a population of about 200, roughly 50 miles east of the Black Rock Desert and two hours northeast of Reno.Diane Liggitt, Charleston’s niece and one of her few remaining relatives, told the AP her father had said Charleston moved to Portland, Oregon from Ohio with a new boyfriend in the early 1970s.In a separatenews releasedetailing its identification process, Othram said Charleston’s family “lost contact with her around 1978.”Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.“Was she happy, or not? Was she safe?” Liggitt had long wondered, she told the AP. “All these questions I had, and it turns out she was dead.”Liggitt said Nevada investigators contacted her in April to connect the dots after Othram’s DNA testing came back. “You found my Aunt Dolly?” Liggitt remembered telling Nevada State Police Detective Sean Koester when he called to ask her about her long-lost aunt.Police failed to identify Charleston’s remains for decades, using digital facial reconstruction, comparing dental records to other missing persons cases, and trying to use the clothing found in the bag as clues to what happened and to whom.Now with the help of advances in genealogical testing, investigators and Charleston’s remaining family members have the answer to at least one of those lingering questions.

A missing Ohio woman has been identified nearly 45 years after police found her remains stuffed inside of a clothes bag in a remote Nevada town.The missing persons cold case confounded investigators for almost half a century before they turned to a proven forensics lab for help in March 2022. The lab, Othram, used DNA found inside the bag to help Nevada police finally identify Florence Charleston, who they believe was in her late 60s at the time of her mysterious death.Now, Charleston’s distant relatives back in Ohio are wondering how she died.

At the time Charleston’s remains were first discovered in 1978, police said that “due to the remains being heavily decayed, a cause of death could not be determined,” according to localKTNV.Nevada State Police said in a news release they still don’t know what caused Charleston’s death or how she ended up buried inside a bag in Imlay, Nev., according toThe Associated Press. Imlay is a small town roughly one square mile with a population of about 200, roughly 50 miles east of the Black Rock Desert and two hours northeast of Reno.

Diane Liggitt, Charleston’s niece and one of her few remaining relatives, told the AP her father had said Charleston moved to Portland, Oregon from Ohio with a new boyfriend in the early 1970s.

In a separatenews releasedetailing its identification process, Othram said Charleston’s family “lost contact with her around 1978.”

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

“Was she happy, or not? Was she safe?” Liggitt had long wondered, she told the AP. “All these questions I had, and it turns out she was dead.”

Liggitt said Nevada investigators contacted her in April to connect the dots after Othram’s DNA testing came back. “You found my Aunt Dolly?” Liggitt remembered telling Nevada State Police Detective Sean Koester when he called to ask her about her long-lost aunt.

Police failed to identify Charleston’s remains for decades, using digital facial reconstruction, comparing dental records to other missing persons cases, and trying to use the clothing found in the bag as clues to what happened and to whom.Now with the help of advances in genealogical testing, investigators and Charleston’s remaining family members have the answer to at least one of those lingering questions.

source: people.com