RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KNX) — A woman reported missing from Tustin in 1977 has been identified by the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team.
According to a statement released by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office on Friday, “partial skeletal remains, including a skull,” were found in 1986 down an embankment along the Ortega Highway in Lake Elsinore. A Caltrans crew surveying the area found the remains and reported them to the sheriff’s department.
At the time, investigators concluded the unidentified victim had been shot in the head.
In August of this year, the county’s cold case team sent the skull to a U.S. Department of Justice lab for DNA comparison. The results of that testing were sent back to the county agency earlier this week, identifying the remains as belonging to Linda LeBeau, née Durnall.
LeBeau was identified through the Justice DEpartment’s Missing Unidentified Persons database via familial DNA match.
LeBeau was reported missing by her boyfriend to Tustin police in 1977. No information was immediately available as to who may have shot LeBeau four decades ago.
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