Decomposed body down cliff posed mystery since 1967, CA cops say. Now woman identified
A woman has been identified 57 years after her body was found down a steep cliff, California deputies say.
The decomposed body, which was found off Highway 1 north of Jenner in 1967, was identified as Lillian Marie Cardenas, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said in a May 8 Facebook post.
When the woman’s body was found, “she wore a long-sleeved white blouse that buttoned down the back and light-colored pants,” Othram Inc., the forensic genetic genealogy company that helped identify the body, said in a May 8 news release.
Despite efforts to identify the unknown woman, deputies said her identity would remain a mystery, and she was eventually buried at the county’s cemetery.
The woman’s body, however, was exhumed in 2009 in hopes of identifying her, deputies said.
Mark Griffin, an anthropology professor with San Francisco State University, examined the body and learned she was a white woman between the ages of 40 and 46, deputies said.
The exam also showed she died by homicide, deputies said.
A sketch of the unknown woman was created and distributed to the public, Othram said.
Her case was also entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, the company said.
Deputies said in 2023 they requested the help of Othram in hopes of identifying the woman through forensic genetic genealogy.
Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.
Othram said its scientists created a “comprehensive DNA profile” for the woman, which was used by the genealogy team to dig deeper and “produce new investigative leads.”
This eventually led investigators to identify the woman as Cardenas, who would have been 39 in 1967, Othram said.
She was last known to have lived in San Francisco and was estranged from family, deputies said.
Now, deputies said they are looking for information from the public about Cardenas’ life that may help “piece together what happened to her.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact deputies at 707-565-2727 or email sheriff-coldcase@sonoma-county.org.
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