In 1960 the burned remains of a young girl were found in an Arizona desert, perplexing investigators who could not identify the girl, referring to her as "Little Miss Nobody." But now, advances in technology have broken the cold case open.
For decades the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office in Prescott, Arizona, in partnership with the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children and other organizations, worked to discover the identity of "Little Miss Nobody," but failed to do so.
To identify the girl, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office partnered with the Texas-based laboratory Othram. Othram works exclusively with law enforcement and offered advanced DNA testing to help discover who "Little Miss Nobody was.
The DNA testing has identified the girl as Sharon Lee Gallegos, the office shared in a Tuesday news conference.
Gallegos was four-years-old when she was abducted from her grandmother's backyard in Alamagordo, New Mexico, on July 21, 1960, according to authorities.
According to the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, she was taken by "a couple who had been stalking her."
The identification of Gallegos will allow investigators to continue their work on the case and discover who abducted her and what led to her death.
As for where they might pick up, Sheriff David Rhodes said on Tuesday that investigators are following leads they received from Gallegos' cousins who were present when she was abducted.
On July 31, 1960, 10 days after her abduction, Gallegos' remains were discovered 500 miles from where she was taken, in Sand Creek Wash, Arizona, police said.
Police shared that it was difficult to identify the cause of death after her remains were found. However, due to the suspicious nature of the case, it was eventually ruled a homicide.
Now, almost 62 years after she was found, "Little Miss Nobody" has been identified as somebody.
Related
Related
