Remains of missing teen found in South Santa Cruz County ID’d 30 years later

AROMAS — Santa Cruz County investigators confirmed the identity of a missing teenager, almost 30 years to the day after her remains were first discovered near Aromas.

Aided by advanced genetic genealogy and forensic DNA analyses, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced that the partial skeletal remains discovered March 22, 1995, in a riverbed off of Highway 129 east of Rogge Lane, are those of 13-year-old Laura O’Malley from Queens, New York.

O’Malley was reported missing in August 1975 and her family had not seen or heard from her since. According to the Sheriff’s Office, it remains unclear when or under what circumstances O’Malley arrived in California.

When the remains were first found, all that could be determined via DNA testing was that the decedent was female. The case was re-examined in 2019 using additional forensic testing and carbon dating, which allowed investigators to determine that the decedent was likely born in the 1960s, with an estimated date of death between 1977 and 1984.

Then, from 2022 to 2023, the Sheriff’s Office used advanced genetic genealogy to identify potential family members. A partnership with forensic DNA analysis lab Othram helped local law enforcement develop new investigative leads and, ultimately, an identification of O’Malley.

The circumstances surrounding O’Malley’s death are still under investigation, according to a release from the Sheriff’s Office, and anyone with information related to the case can call the office’s dispatch at 831-471-1121.