Montana authorities said this week they used a DNA sample to identify human remains found more than three decades ago as that of a Washington state woman whose family she last saw in 1983.
For decades, the skeletal remains were only known as Christy Crystal Creek after they were found by a bear hunter in rural Missoula County in 1985. Detectives had few leads, and the inaccurate analysis of the woman’s teeth by a forensic anthropologist confused the teeth further investigation.
Recently, however, investigators turned back to her teeth and extracted a genetic profile from one of her molars and uploaded it to a genealogy database. That led the investigators to a cousin, who they linked with the woman’s siblings.
The Missoula County sheriff’s office announced Monday that Christy Crystal Creek was Janet Lee Lucas of Spokane, Washington. The reveal solved a mystery that had preoccupied investigators for decades and that has recently been the subject of a podcast about true crime.
“Our focus has changed from ‘Who is Christy Crystal Creek? ‘to “What happened to Janet Lucas?” said Detective Capt. Dave Conway of the Sheriff’s Office in a statement. “This is now a cold murder investigation and we need your help.”
Last month, Ms. Lucas’ son, twin brother, and one of her sisters visited the site near Crystal Creek where their remains were found.
“This is a great peace that comes with finding out what happened,” said Josh Cheney, her son. Now 43, he said he last saw his mother when he was 5 years old and spent his life wondering if and why she had left him. “Although she’s gone,” he said, “at least I know.”
While identification answered some questions, others remain. Among them was whether Ms. Lucas was killed by Wayne Nance, whom authorities suspect to be a serial killer known as Missoula Mauler. Investigators said they believe Mr Nance, who died in 1986, killed at least four other people in Montana in the 1970s and 1980s.
Metal fillings discovered by a hunter
On September 9, 1985, a hunter chasing a bear discovered a skull near a creek east of Missoula. Metal fillings in the teeth were a sign that it was human remains, and he called the sheriff’s office according to a forensic case report.
Investigators didn’t find much that could help them identify her. “There were no clothes, no personal items, nothing,” said Susan Lane, Special Representative of the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office. An investigation revealed that she had died from two bullets in the head.
Forensic anthropologists concluded that she was likely between 4 feet 8 and 5 feet tall and 24 to 34 years old. After examining her teeth, they determined that she was likely of Asian descent. Detective Marta Timmins of the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office told the ABC Fox Montana podcast, “Montana Murder Mysteries,” last year that the presence of screw-retained tooth posts suggests that it is handcrafted by a dentist in Japan or Korea.
This analysis, which was found to be false, informed Christy Crystal Creek’s drawings and descriptions that appeared on missing people’s posters and on the Internet, and guided the investigation. No useful evidence emerged.
In 2006, authorities identified another woman – Marcella Cheri Bachman, known as Marci – whose remains were found not far from the Christy Crystal Creek discovery in 1984. When investigators put Ms. Bachman’s story together, they were convinced that she had been killed by Mr. Nance, who was a bouncer at a local bar at the time. Mr. Nance was killed entering his employer’s home in 1986 and was never charged with murder.
Without knowing who Christy Crystal Creek was, there was no way to find out if she could have crossed with Mr. Nance.
Recognition…Missoula County Sheriff’s Office
A profile created from a molar tooth
There has been significant progress in the field of human identification in recent years, and last year investigators turned back to Christy Crystal Creek’s teeth. From a molar tooth, Othram, a private laboratory that works with law enforcement agencies, was able to create a genetic profile that is compatible with genealogy databases, said David Mittelman, chief executive officer of Othram.
An investigator on the cold-case team at the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office uploaded this profile to two databases, FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch. They quickly found someone who appeared to be their mysterious wife’s first cousin, Deputy Lane said. The sheriff’s office called the cousin to find out if anyone in his family had disappeared.
It wasn’t long before a name was found from there – Janet Lee Lucas – and an age of 23. Her twin brother, Jim Lucas, 60, recalled receiving the call through his sister.
In an interview, Mr. Lucas said that she and her son were living with him in Spokane when she disappeared. One day she went to get a pack of cigarettes and did not come home when he expected. He tracked her down in a bar where they were arguing.
“I went back to my car thinking she would be home soon,” he said. “But that was the last time I saw her.”
In good times, he said, his sister was a “loving mother and sister who always had a smile on her face”. But she also struggled with the pressures of being a single mother. He may have thought that and the influence of some die-hard friends had pushed them to run away.
But as the weeks turned into years and then decades, he knew there had to be more to the story. When he got the call that she had been found, he said, “I got blurry; I fell to the ground and started crying. “
Ms. Lucas ‘son, Mr Cheney, received a phone call shortly thereafter and agreed to provide a DNA sample to confirm the investigators’ hypothesis was correct.
Although he was only five years old when he last saw her: “I remember my mother; I remembered how she smelled, ”he said. “It was very traumatic for me not to have her.”
Mr. Cheney, who was adopted after his mother disappeared, was familiar with the name Christy Crystal Creek. Since the creation of the internet, he has scoured descriptions of Jane Does and looked for his mother, he said.
Christy Crystal Creek was about his mother’s age and was found not long after his mother disappeared. But “it listed her as Japanese,” said Mr. Cheney, who is white. “Obviously my mother is not an Asian.”
Kirsten Green Mink, professor of anthropology at the University of Montana, said this was a “perfect example” of how forensic anthropology can mislead people when an ancestral assessment is viewed as gospel.
“Our hardest part is educating law enforcement and the public that it is not an exact science,” she said, noting that the area was still in its infancy than another forensic anthropologist who stopped being involved the university works, came to the wrong conclusion about Christy Crystal Creek dental care.
Deputy Lane and other investigators are now hoping to find out who killed Ms. Lucas. It’s difficult, she said, because the killer is known to have left no DNA or personal effects.
Since the identification was announced, some clues have penetrated. Deputy Lane said investigators would follow up on this. After Ms. Lucas is identified, there is hope that photos of her life in Montana will emerge and provide additional clues about her final months.
There was some relief to Mr. Lucas and Mr. Cheney that came with their identification and their visit to the location where their remains were found. Mr. Cheney said his focus now is on giving his mother an appropriate funeral.
“The most important thing,” he said, “is to calm my mother and get from her whereabouts to a place where she can finally be released.”
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