Officials have finally identified the body of a victim to homicide that was discovered in New Mexico 37 years ago as a missing Kansas teenager.
After DNA testing, authorities with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office were able to identify the victim as 16-year-old Dorothy Harrison, according to officials.
Now that they know her name and have spoken with her family in Kansas, investigators were able to piece together some events surrounding the disappearance of the teenager.
According to a statement made to the media, Harrison fled her Wichita residence on Thursday, 25 July 1984, around 5 p.m. One of her siblings saw her getting into a long, brown vehicle with two older, unidentified girls. Her family reported her missing.
The statement revealed that authorities learned Harrison had oftentimes left her home and wouldn’t return for weeks during the end of the summer, and that law enforcement would bring her home, though she would constantly leave again. Harrison was always in Kansas, according to the authorities.
Later that year, in August, Harrison called the family to inform them she was in Los Angeles at the time of 1984 Summer Olympics. Harrison then called her family a few weeks later, in late August or early September. She said she was in El Paso Texas and was returning home to Wichita (Kansas) officials.
According to Harrison, that was their last contact with Harrison.
Her bones were found in a small grave close to Upham, New Mexico, on March 10, 1985 by hunters. Upham lies approximately 50 miles north-east of El Paso.
According to the statement, the remains of a white woman aged between 16-19 years when she died was believed to be the victim. She is also estimated to have stood about 5 feet 2 inches tall. “blonde to light brown hair.” The body, which was unknown at the time, was found wearing a sports jersey with ¾ length sleeves. “Wilson”A large ink was imprinted on the shir. “W”White background.
According to the statement, the initial investigation revealed that the female had likely died between 3-6 months and three months before being located.
Harrison’s death is believed to have occurred between September 10, 1984, and January 10, 1985 according to authorities.
Over the next 37 years, the identity of the female remained unknown as investigators continued to pursue leads, including looking at numerous missing persons’ cases.
However, the leads all led to dead ends.
The case of unidentified remains was assigned as Detective Melissa Agullo on March 10, 2021 in the hope that new technology would help to solve the long-running case.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) contacted DASO to offer DNA resources for unidentified cases while Detective Agullo was going through case files from the past three decades.
The left femur bone was given to Astrea Forensics in cooperation with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. To extract DNA, we used approximately 155mg. of bone powder.
Innovative Forensics Investigations received DNA results to create a family tree.
The collaborative work led to answers and after more than three decades, the remains were able to be identified as 16-year-old Dorothy Harrison.
Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart told KSNW that the news has been hard on the teenager’s family.
The outlet reported that Harrison’s mother and five siblings reside in Kansas, though they do not wish for their names to be made public.
“Dorothy was a typical teenager; she was only 16 years old when this horrific crime happened to her. Like most teens, she was sometimes unhappy at home and easily influenced. She left home with some people she thought were her friends, and we never saw her again,” Harrison’s family wrote in a statement.
According to KSNW, the family is working on getting Harrison’s remains returned to Kansas.
The sheriff’s office has classified the teen’s death as a homicide, but they have not determined how she died.
“We hope the media exposure of this case will help obtain any new leads in potentially solving this homicide with the new positive identification,” Agullo told Inside Edition Digital.
“Additionally, it shows awareness to other surrounding agencies across the U.S. of the resources, technology, and grant funding that is out there to help identify these missing and unidentified person’s cold cases.”
Authorities request that if anyone has information about Harrison’s death or encountered with her while she was away, to contact the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office at 575-525-1911.