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.