KENT COUNTY (WWJ) -- Almost 25 years later, authorities have identified the remains of a woman who was murdered in 1997 found in a roadside park in west Michigan.
Officials identified her as Stephanie Renee Judson, a Benton Harbor woman in her 20s who moved to the Grand Rapids area in the late 1980s and was killed in 1997. She was possibly the victims of a killer or multiple killers who murdered 12 at-risk sex-trafficked women between 1994 and 1997.
DNA sampling and genealogy tracing helped to reveal her identity.
Dustin Cook, a detective at the Kent County sheriff's office, said the process was "incredible." The investigation stretched from Kent County to distant relatives in Mississippi and then back to Michigan where they found her sister.
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The mother of Judson and her sister died before the mystery could be solved.
Kent County officials said investigations into the case can now move forward.
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