Placer County sheriff identifies dead woman found in 1990. Deputies probe ‘suspicious’ death

A woman found dead 35 years ago near an embankment in Placer County has been identified through forensic genealogy.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office said Monday the woman found dead near Yankee Jims Road in Colfax has been identified as Wendy Abrams-Nishikai.

Abrams-Nishikai, 21, was last seen in Berkeley in 1989 on Halloween. She was found Feb. 10, 1990.

Leads in the case had dried up and the case went cold.

Her remains were found in a steep, wooded terrains of the Sierra foothills by two Carmichael men target practicing, according to The Sacramento Bee’s archives.

She had a sleeping bag and was wearing blue hiking shorts and white L.A. Gear tennis shoes. Investigators found a green nylon backpack with red trim, containing brown Levi’s trousers, The Bee’s archives said.

She also had a blue flower tattoo about the size of a dime on her chest and had a string of pearls around her neck, The Bee’s archives said.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office formed a cold case investigations team in 2023 and reopened Abrams-Nishikai’s case. A lab under the California Department of Justice found Abrams-Nishikai’s relative through DNA analysis, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Sheriff’s deputy retrieved more DNA samples from family members and positively identified Abrams-Nishikai last month.

Abrams-Nishikai’s death was classified as suspicious by the Placer County Coroner’s Office, said a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, but the investigation into her death is still ongoing.

“While her death is still under investigation and the case is ongoing, we hope this identification provides some closure to her surviving family members after 35 years of uncertainty,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at PCSOTipLine@placer.ca.gov.