Remains of Redmond teen missing 24 years finally identified
SEATTLE -- DNA taken from a partial skull found in 2001 near milepost 39 on Interstate 90 has been positively identified as the remains of Erin MacGregor, an 18-year-old who disappeared after leaving her Redmond home on Sept. 19, 1990. King County Major Crimes detectives said Bode Technologies, the same lab that linked Albert DeSalvo to the last Boston Strangler victim, made the breakthrough. And it was DNA taken from MacGregor’s mother that proved to be the crucial key. “We were able to get with the King County Medical Examiner's Office and get some DNA from her autopsy. We sent that to Bode Technologies and they were able to compare the DNA from mom with the partial cranium that they had and they were able to give us firm numbers," King County Sheriff’s detective Jason Stanley said. Those numbers positively identified MacGregor, and last month the King County Medical Examiner’s Office issued a death certificate. "Now, it's not a missing person's case anymore, this is a case where it's most likely a homicide," Stanley said. Erin’s sister, Aimee MacGregor, was 16 when she disappeared. Aimee said she is relieved to know for sure that she’s gone because it does bring some closure. “My heart was pounding. I actually had made peace that I would never hear anything," she said. Detectives still don’t know how MacGregor died, but they are now a step closer to solving her case. "Somebody's got to know something and whether it’s a friend who runs in the same circle or whether its somebody who saw something on the night in Sept. 19, 1990, somebody has to know something. We’re really reaching out and asking people to give us a hand," Stanley said. If you have any information about Erin MacGregor, call the King County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit at 206-263-2090 or you can make an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.