A Jane Doe cold case that has been open for 35 years has come upon a substantial breakthrough, as the person has finally been identified.
The Placer County Sheriff's Office announced that they have identified the remains of a woman found in 1990 as Wendy Abrams-Nishikai.
The woman was last seen on October 31, 1989, when she was 21. The body was found off an embankment in Colfax, CA.
Originally, the case was deemed a Jane Doe cold case when the Placer County Sheriff's Office investigators weren't able to identify the woman using the technology they had at the time.
In 2023, the Placer County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Investigations team was formed, and took up the unsolved case.
The case was soon reopened, utilizing advancements in both technology and forensic genealogy. In 2024, a laboratory in Richmond, CA, identified a likely next of kin using DNA, linking the unknown remains to a relative of a woman reported missing in 1989 from Berkeley.
Family members were then contacted so that investigators could collect additional DNA samples for comparison.
Then, last month in January, the remains were officially identified as those of Wendy Abrams-Nishikai.
The death is still under investigation and the case remains open, but officials are hoping that the identification can at least provide some closure for her surviving family members.
The Placer County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with possible information about this case to contact them via email at PCSOTipLine@placer.ca.gov.
