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Oregon Identifies 1976 'Swamp Mountain Jane Doe' as Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter

A distant relative's consumer DNA upload enabled the identification, prompting a renewed inquiry into her death.

A school photo of Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter, who disappeared in 1974 in Oregon and whose remains were recently confirmed by DNA from her sister Valerie Nagle, is seen over notes taken by Nagle about McWhorter's disappearance Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Family photos of Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter, who disappeared in 1974 in Oregon and whose remains were recently confirmed by DNA from her sister Valerie Nagle, are seen over notes taken by Nagle about McWhorter's disappearance Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A family photo of Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter, back center in white, who disappeared in 1974 in Oregon, and whose remains were recently identified, is held by her sister Valerie Nagle Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Valerie Nagle, whose DNA recently helped to confirm the remains of her sister Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter, who disappeared in 1974 in Oregon, poses for a portrait Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Overview

  • Oregon State Police announced the identification this week, confirming in June 2025 that remains found in 1976 belong to McWhorter.
  • Genealogists connected a FamilyTreeDNA upload by a first cousin once removed to an existing forensic profile and then confirmed the match using sister Valerie Nagle’s DNA.
  • Investigators previously sent bone to the University of North Texas in 2010 for a NamUs profile and extracted a more detailed genetic marker profile in 2020.
  • McWhorter, 21, was last seen at a Tigard, Oregon mall in 1974; a moss hunter found her skull near Swamp Mountain in Linn County in 1976 along with clothing and personal items.
  • State forensic officials say she likely did not go missing voluntarily, and the Linn County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the circumstances of her death.