The exhumed remains of an unidentified woman found 26 years ago alongside Interstate 5 in Colusa County cannot be identified as a missing 30- year-old mother of five, Colusa County authorities said.
The family of Nellie Cornman Flickinger believed the remains were hers. They haven't seen Flickinger since 1979, when she left her children with their grandmother in Erie, Pa., and took off for California, promising that she would return.
DNA tests done by the California Department of Justice could not produce a satisfactory DNA profile, Colusa County authorities said.
"There's no more they can do," said Joni Lapeyrouse, a niece of Flickinger.
Lapeyrouse, who lives in Florida, had found the possible match through the Doe Network, a Web-based clearinghouse of missing people and unidentified bodies.
Family members suspected the remains found in Colusa County could be Flickinger's because they included surgical plates in one of the legs.
Flickinger had similar plates in her leg because of a motorcycle injury, but no medical records exist of her treatment. Flickinger also did not have dental records to compare to the remains.
Colusa County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Kevin Wheeler said the remains had degraded too much for a definitive DNA comparison. When the body was found in a ditch, it was skeletal. No cause of death could be determined.
"We have to assume she was a homicide victim," Wheeler said.
Flickinger left Pennsylvania with a man on a motorcycle, possibly a military man, but the family has no name.
Wheeler said the unidentified remains will not be buried immediately.
Lapeyrouse said she is checking to see if the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas in Fort Worth will do more testing. The center accepts DNA samples from all over the country and is funded by a federal grant, said Linda Larose, a quality assurance manager.
The center's laboratory can do more complex testing of severely degraded samples, Larose said. The testing relies on matching DNA with maternal relatives or descendants from the mother, she said.
Wheeler said if the Texas lab is willing to attempt to test DNA from the unidentified remains, the department will cooperate.
"I'm disappointed, too. Whomever that lady is, she's missing," he said.
Call The Bee's M.S. Enkoji, (916) 321-1106.
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