County of Ottawa issued the following announcement on Jan 20.
The Ottawa County Cold Cases Team has made a breakthrough in a homicide transcending decades. On November 6th, 1994, the skeletal remains of a female were found by hunters in Wright Township. The victim, who was referred to as “Matilda,” was never been positively identified until this week. "Matilda" has been confirmed as Shelly Rae Kephart (AKA Shelly Rae Christian) of Minneapolis and then Grand Rapids. Shelly is pictured below. Anyone with any information or who knew Shelly Rae Kephart (Christian) is asked to contact the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office or Silent Observer at 1-877-88 SILENT (745368) or mosotips.com. Please help us by sharing this information.
Forensic genealogy was the innovation that lead to this critical step forward in the case. During 2007, a DNA profile of the victim was obtained, yet the victim was not identified because she was not in the national CODIS database. Without knowledge of the victim's identity, the case once again grew cold.
In 2021, the Ottawa County Cold Case Team again took up this investigation. Acting on genealogy information provided by the DNA Doe Project, detectives traveled to Minnesota to make contact with the family of a missing person who was 29 years old when she went missing from Minnesota in 1993.
On January 18th, 2022, the FBI Crime Laboratory confirmed a DNA association between “Matilda” and the family after a kinship analysis. Following a consultation with Medical Examiner, Dr. Stephen Cohle, who performed the original autopsy, the identity of the victim was confirmed as Shelly Rae Kephart (Christian).
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office remains hopeful that the identification of Shelly will provide closure for family and an investigative direction for detectives. No suspect has been identified at this time. Anyone with any information or who knew Shelly Rae Kephart (Christian) is asked to contact the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office or Silent Observer at 1-877-88 SILENT (745368) or mosotips.com. Please help us by sharing this information. Ottawa County Cold Cases Ottawa County Sheriff's Office - Michigan
Original source can be found here.
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