DNA helps police identify woman killed in Sacramento homicide over 30 years ago
Advanced testing of DNA evidence led authorities to identify a woman whose skeletal remains were found 34 years ago in a field in Sacramento’s River District.
The remains of Sheila Osborne, 40, were found April 10, 1991, in the field near the 2000 block of North B Street. Officers responded to a report of a deceased person and found the skeletal remains of an unidentified woman.
Investigators now know that Osborne — before her death — had recently arrived in the Sacramento area from Johnson City, Tennessee, the Sacramento Police Department announced Tuesday afternoon in a news release.
Osborne was a victim of a homicide that remains unsolved. The circumstances surrounding Osborne’s death are still under investigation. The Police Department on Tuesday did not release any details about the manner of her death.
Despite efforts, investigators had not been able to identify the woman’s remains for more than three decades. Police said authorities in 2008 developed a DNA profile for the unidentified woman and entered it into the federal Combined DNA Index System. But authorities didn’t find any matches.
The Sacramento homicide case was revisited years later, and evidence was submitted to the forensics company Othram Inc. for advanced DNA testing. Police said funding for this DNA testing was provided through the company’s Roads to Justice program.
Results from the advanced DNA testing enabled the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit to perform investigative genealogy that led to a possible identification. Police said subsequent standard familial DNA comparison confirmed Osborne’s identity.
The District Attorney’s Office has used DNA genealogy techniques to identify and arrest Joseph James DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer and Roy Waller as the NorCal Rapist. Both Sacramento County criminal cases ended with convictions and life sentences in prison for the defendants.
Investigators asked anyone with relevant information regarding Osborne’s death to call the Police Department at 916-808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-4357.
