Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge)  Photo Gallery: Cold Case Cards   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • More cold-case cards will go to inmates 11/11/09 • Tips sought in Monroe cold case from 2000 10/30/09   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, April 19, 2009 Cold case: Body found in Bothell was long unidentified By Diana Hefley Herald Writer BOTHELL -- Science brought her home. So did persistence. Jodi DePaoli's remains were discovered in 1988 in some woods near an illegal garbage dump in Bothell. It took nearly 20 years to determine the 16-year-old girl's name and return her to her family. Police are still hunting for the killer. DePaoli is part of the state's first deck of cold-case playing cards. Snohomish County sheriff's detectives created the cards last year in hopes of soliciting new leads in dozens of unsolved homicides and missing persons cases dating back to the 1970s. DePaoli is featured on the jack of clubs. She was killed more than a year before she was found. Snohomish County sheriff's detectives compiled a list of possible victims. DePaoli, a runaway, was on the list, but when investigators asked Seattle police about DePaoli, they were told she was no longer listed as a missing, sheriff's detective Jim Scharf said. "We don't know if her name was removed from the system or if she'd run away, then was located and then ran away again but wasn't reported," Scharf said. "There are a lot of possibilities why she fell through the cracks." Her family hadn't given up finding DePaoli. Her cousin called the Green River Task Force in 2003 asking if DePaoli was among serial killer Gary Ridgway's unidentified victims. New technology allowed investigators to compare DNA samples from the family members of missing women against those of the remains. The DNA from DePaoli's family didn't match any of the remains found by the Green River Task Force. The family's DNA information was entered into the national database in 2005. A few months later, Snohomish County sheriff's detective Joe Ward asked forensic experts in Texas to collect a DNA sample from the unidentified girl found in 1988 in Bothell. A match was made from the genetic sample taken from DePaoli's father three years earlier. Jane Doe 1988 had a name, and 19 years and three days after she was found, her family laid her to rest, next to her grandmother and grandfather. "There was relief especially when were able to bury her," her younger brother Mario DePaoli said. "The only better relief is someone being caught." Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

1. Juror dismissed in assault trial 2. Snow next? Maybe a little 3. 787 set to fly Tuesday 4. Mill Creek family opens hearts to teen 5. Asarco must pay to clean Everett mess 6. Meet the world's smallest snowman 7. Readers fill in details on David Janssen photo 8. Where will you watch the 787's first flight? 9. 1,000 police on the roads looking for drunks 10. Good news, bad news for Silvertips 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Zambian woman thanks students for their help • Food banks see rise in use • ‘Making Spirits Bright’ in Edmonds • Wolfpack takes aim at state • Seahawks help students smile • 95 and still volunteering • Sno-King joined by local TV king • Veterans back for Wildcats • Lynnwood seeks to plug $2 million budget gap • Snohomish County offers the best and most affordable venues for conferen ... • Boeing will build, flight test and deliver 787s in South Carolina to spe ... • Snohomish County EDC promoting job growth in key industry clusters • $4 million grant to advance brain tumor research has Everett links • Providence medical center construction tops off its 12-story steel frame ... • Tulalip affordable housing project to be financed by KeyBank, Raymond Ja ... • Arlington's Lak of Ink has a growing following for Luke Kooyman's creati ... • Bank of the Northwest formed