Remains found in California identified as 13-year-old New York girl who vanished 50 years ago

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced this week that human remains found in a California river have been identified as belonging to Laura O’Malley, a 13-year-old girl from Queens, New York who went missing 50 years ago. The partial skeletal remains were initially discovered in a riverbed off a highway in Watsonville nearly 30 years ago, but the case went cold when initial DNA testing only revealed that they belonged to a female.

However, after reopening the cold case in 2019, more advanced testing, including carbon dating, was conducted. This testing indicated that the decedent was likely born in the 1960s and died between 1977 and 1984. In 2022, advanced genetic testing was used to identify potential family members, confirming that the remains were indeed those of Laura O’Malley.

It is still unclear when or how Laura O’Malley arrived in California, as well as the circumstances surrounding her death. Her siblings, two sisters and a brother, have been searching for her since she went missing in August 1975. They continued to circulate her picture across Manhattan, where they initially believed she may have fled to.

The sheriff’s office expressed gratitude for finally providing answers to Laura’s family after years of uncertainty. The investigation into the circumstances of O’Malley’s death is still ongoing, and authorities are working to piece together the events leading up to her disappearance and ultimate demise.

The discovery of Laura O’Malley’s remains serves as a reminder of the importance of never giving up hope and continuing to search for answers in cold cases, no matter how much time has passed.