Thank you Will for wonderfull write up and for all the infromation and photos. My deepest condolences to you and your family. May Judy Rest in Peace.
Article just came out today, so posting it here
NJ-Based Aunt, Cops Help ID Remains of Child in Decades-Old Cold Case
After nearly half a century, New Jersey State Police used newly gathered DNA evidence from a hopeful aunt to help investigators in San Francisco identify the remains of a murdered 14-year-old girl.
The unfortunate story began to unravel when a man walking his dog on Oct. 1, 1976 “discovered a hand protruding from the sand behind a pumping station in Lake Merced, San Francisco,” according to New Jersey State Police.
California detectives subsequently determined that the victim was a young Asian girl whose body was found with distinctive jewelry, including a gold chain and owl necklace found in her pocket.
The young girl’s death was ultimately ruled a homicide.
Years later, a man named William Shin told police in San Francisco that he remembered having a sister when he was a child who went missing at the age of 14 and that nobody in his family had "seen or heard from her since 1976," according to NJSP.
---
As a result, San Francisco police began to think that the remains discovered in 1976 were that of Judy Gifford and found a paternal aunt of Judy's, Ogee Gifford, in Southampton, New Jersey. That's when they contacted New Jersey State Police for help.
It turned out Ogee never changed her phone number as she held on to the hope that her missing niece would call, NJSP said.
---
New Jersey Sate Police Missing Persons Unit met with with the aunt in June and collected a DNA sample, dental records and photographs - including photographs of Judy wearing a gold chain and an owl pendant necklace, the same as the jewelry found on the unidentified teen girl decades ago.
---
After 43 years of not having a name, on Nov. 14, the California Department of Justice announced that the remains of the Jane Doe found in 1976 were positively identified as that of Judy Gifford.
New Jersey-Based Aunt, Cops Help ID Remains of Child in Decades-Old San Francisco Cold Case