ALBANY, Ore. (AP) — DNA samples from the children of a missing woman gave Linn County sheriff’s detectives the information they needed to finally identify a skull found in the Santiam River as the remains of Samilla Stewart.
The 36-year-old Sweet Home woman’s car was found in the river in 1974. The skull was found in the sand by fishermen in 1979, but it could not be identified at the time.
Sheriff Tim Mueller reported Monday that two of Stewart’s children provided DNA samples in 2008, and that a missing persons program at the University of North Texas made the identification last month.
