LAS VEGAS—In 1978, a garment bag containing a woman’s heavily decayed remains was discovered in a remote area of northern Nevada.
The case soon went cold—and the victim remained nameless for 45 years.
But on Wednesday, Nevada State Police announced that advancements in DNA testing have finally led to an identification. She was Florence Charleston, a Cleveland, Ohio, woman in her late 60s who had moved to Portland, Oregon, shortly before her death.
How Charleston wound up dead and buried in a shallow grave 535 miles (860 kilometers) away from her new home is still a mystery. Police said Wednesday in a news release announcing the DNA match that the investigation into her death is ongoing….