LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Police have identified a homicide victim whose body was located in a desert area near the Las Vegas Strip in 1979 as a missing Ohio woman.
Gwenn Marie Story, 19, of Colerain Township, Ohio, was murdered near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue on Aug. 14, 1979, police said.
A man discovered her remains on the site of the demolished El Rancho hotel, though the nearby intersection gave her the moniker “Sahara Sue Doe.”
DNA testing led to Story’s identification last month. Texas-based Othram Labs, which works with police to identify cold case victims, made the match through familial DNA, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department cold case investigator Terri Miller told NewsNation affiliate KLAS.
Witnesses saw Story and an unidentified man visit a now-closed liquor store near the intersection about an hour before the discovery of Story’s body, Miller said.
A store clerk described the man as being about 6-feet tall with a thin build and a mustache that was a different color than the color of his hair, Miller said. Police released a composite sketch of the man shortly after the discovery of Story’s body.
In the summer of 1979, Story traveled to Las Vegas with two men who were also from the Cincinnati area, Miller said, in an attempt to find her biological father in California. The two men returned to Ohio without her.
When asked if he thinks one of those men killed Story, Miller responded: “I don’t know, until I am able to interview them, and I don’t have a name on them either. We’re at the very beginning stages of this investigation on the homicide portion of it.”
It was also unclear Tuesday if the man whom Story visited the store within the hour before her death was one of the two men she traveled with, Miller said.
“Finally after 44 years of not knowing what happened to our sister Gwenn Story, we have news that she had been identified,” Story’s family said in a statement.
“We are looking for some closure on this case. Our family just wants some answers, we would really appreciate the help,” the statement continues. “Our family would also like to thank all the many detectives who have worked this case over the years at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. If it wasn’t for you, we would still be wondering where Gwenn is.”
Tips can be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling 702-385-5555 or visiting crimestoppersofnv.com/report-a-crime. Crime Stoppers offers a reward for information that leads to an arrest.
