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Oregon’s 1976 ‘Swamp Mountain Jane Doe’ Identified as Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter

A relative’s FamilyTreeDNA upload enabled genealogists to match a decades-old DNA profile, locating surviving kin.

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 publicly announced the identification this week after confirming it in June.
  • The remains recovered near a mountain creek in the Central Cascades in 1976 are those of McWhorter, who was last seen in Tigard in October 1974 at age 21.
  • Investigators built the DNA trail through a 2010 bone submission to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification and a 2020 genetic profile entered into NamUs.
  • A first cousin once removed uploaded DNA to FamilyTreeDNA in April 2025, which allowed genealogists to map the family tree and reach sister Valerie Nagle.
  • A state forensic anthropologist says McWhorter likely did not go missing voluntarily, and the Linn County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the circumstances of her death.