Murder of Martha Morrison

Martha Marie Morrison was an American teenager that went missing in 1974. Her remains were recovered the same year she vanished, along with the skeleton of another victim, but she was not identified until July 13, 2015. Her murder currently remains unsolved and tips are encouraged to be submitted to law enforcement. Circumstances: Morrison reportedly grew up in foster care while living near Eugene, Oregon, and went to Roosevelt High School as well as Corvallis Farm School, the latter which she may have run away from in the past. Subsequently, she went to Arizona to attend Job Corps. Morrison had a history of drug use and running away from both the homes of her biological and foster families, as well as the Corvallis Farm School. Morrison was last seen leaving her apartment that she rented with a man she had moved back from Arizona with. The pair reportedly had an argument and Martha was never seen alive again. On October 12, 1974, Morrison's remains were discovered in Dole Valley, near Vancouver, Washington. The skeleton was believed to have belonged to a Caucasian female aged seventeen to twenty-five, with brown hair that was long and of "coarse" texture. The height of the victim was estimated to have been five feet two to five feet five inches tall. Morrison's body was discovered alongside the remains of Carol Louise Valenzuela, who was identified shortly afterward. Morrison's case was thought to have been reported, as a family member claimed, yet the rest of Morrison's family eventually discovered that she had remained unreported missing. In 2010, an official report was filed. Investigation: Between the discovery of the remains and 1977, the bones of the victim had been examined nationwide in hopes to uncover clues. All examinations had since been unsuccessful. Morrison's skull and some other bones were erroneously mislabeled as Valenzuela's when it was in storage, which investigator Nikki Costa attributed to one of the reasons why the remains were unidentified for so long. In 2011, this problem was discovered when the skull's teeth were noticed to have not been consistent with Velenzuela's dentition. The remains had been thought to have since been lost. Costa had been assigned to the case in 2007. Costa stated in an interview conducted after the identification that tireless amounts of time were logged into the investigation, including following leads that may have linked the case to serial killer Gary Ridgway, a previously unidentified serial killer that killed prostitutes and runaway girls between the 1970s and 1990s. Future efforts and identification: Both Morrison and the unidentified victim were eventually entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, which specializes in locating missing people and identifying human remains. Ten missing people were excluded as possible identities of the remains until the identification was made in July 2015. Morrison, while a missing person, was ruled out as the possible identity of an unidentified female homicide victim, nicknamed as "Orange Socks" that was estimated to have been between fifteen and thirty when she was located in Texas in 1979. DNA was obtained from Martha Morrison's sister and half-brother which was used to develop a genetic profile to compare to potential matches. After the testing was complete, it was compared to the currently unidentified remains, whose DNA profile was developed in 2012. Similarities were noted, yet a definite match was not established. Investigator Costa continued to research the two cases, including using superimposition to find evidence of psoriasis in the bones of the victim and images the missing teenager, who had suffered from such a disease, as well as attempting to locate dental information of the victim. After unsuccessful testing in the past, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children stated they would pay for an exhumation of the victim's father in order to retrieve DNA to compare, once again, to the unidentified remains. Morrison's sister gave her blessing and the process was carried out on June 11, 2015, although it was possible that the man was not Morrison's biological father. Biopsies kept on record from Morrison's mother were also used to compare with the remains. The results gave a near-certain indication that the remains were that of Martha's, by over ninety-nine percent. Investigators had hoped to complete the testing as soon as possible, as Morrison's sister was in "poor health." One person of interest has been named in the case. Warren Leslie Forest, who is incarcerated for a different murder, is being considered by authorities as a possible suspect. Forest had murdered a girl, the same year as Morrison and Velenzuela, and was eventually convicted.