SEATTLE — Advances in DNA technology have allowed experts to determine that a partial skull found 12 years ago belonged to an 18-year-old Redmond woman who vanished in 1990.
Now, King County sheriff’s Sgt. Cindi West says the case of Erin MacGregor has been classified as a suspicious death, likely a murder. West says there are no suspects at this time.
MacGregor was last seen at her boyfriend’s house on Sept. 19, 1990. A King County sheriff’s deputy ran her license plate that day in Federal Way.
Her car was found in a Seattle apartment parking lot several weeks later.
West says two men looking for deer antlers near I-90 in east King County found the skull in 2001 but labs were unable to extract DNA.
In March, detectives sent the partial skull to a lab that offered advanced DNA testing. The lab succeeded in extracting DNA and said it likely was MacGregor’s skull. The King County medical examiner’s office was able to provide a tissue sample from the autopsy of MacGregor’s deceased mother and that provided more evidence for identification.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
