Police say a woman who was found dismembered in eastern Washington 39 years ago has been identified through DNA and genetic genealogy. Old case this week.
The Spokane Police Department said in a statement on Facebook that the 24-year-old victim, who became known as “Millie” over the years, was identified as Ruth Bell Weimer in February.
Weimer was found by two fishermen naked in the Spokane River, near the border with Idaho, with her head, feet and hands severed on June 20, 1984.
Fourteen years later in 1998, the skull was found in a vacant lot in the Spokane, WashingtonThree years later, investigators were able to match her to Waymire’s remains, but she has yet to be identified.
Serial killer BTK poses Alibi amid new questioning about the 1976 OKLAHOMA cold case
Ruth Bell Weimer as a sophomore in high school, left, and a calculated image created of what she looked like when she was murdered at the age of 24. (Spokane Police Department)
In 2002, forensic drawings and facial reconstructions were performed on Waymire’s skull and in 2007, her information was uploaded to NamUs, a national system for missing and identified persons.
Investigators reconstructed Weimer’s face after her skull was found in 1998. (Spokane Police Department)
In 2021, DNA taken from her corpse in 2001 is sent to Outram, a company that works with degraded samples and that also helped Spokane police identify the 9-year-old. Candy Rogers fought in 1959 two years ago.
The company created a DNA profile for Waymire that listed possible family members, and after a relative in Spokane provided a DNA sample, her identity was narrowed down to two sisters using genetic genealogy.
Although both sisters were initially believed dead, Weimer’s younger sister was eventually found living in Oklahoma and provided DNA to investigators.
Confirmed to be sisters on February 17, 2023, Waymire, who was never reported missing and was living a “vagabond lifestyle” at the time, is finally identified.
Weimer lived with her mother and sister in Spokane after her parents divorced when she was young, but her mother died soon after and the sisters became separated and she lost contact.
Police said Weimer was married to her second husband at the time of her death and likely gave birth a year or two before she was found. No child has been found or identified.
Kill her Not yet determined.
Her husband D.L. Vaughn Trampas, born in 1945, died in 2017. He had served time in prison in Iowa before moving to Washington and marrying Waymire.
Waymire’s second husband, Trampas DL Vaughn, who has served time in prison, has not been ruled out as a suspect. He passed away in 2017. (Spokane Police Department)
Vaughn has not been ruled out as a suspect and no other suspects have been identified.
Waymire’s first husband is still living in Spokane and cooperating with the detectives.
Click here for the FOX NEWS app
Spokane Police and the medical examiner’s office detectives hope that those who know Ruth, her spouses, and/or possibly a child/s born to Ruth will contact police through Crime Check at 509-456-2233 and help close the tragic death of a young woman who has been named Millie so far. “. “Ruth Bell would have turned 63 next month.”