Las Vegas, NV (KXNT) - After 44 years of a long and intensive investigation, the LVMPD Cold Case Section has identified a female homicide victim as Gwenn Marie Story.
On the night of August 14, 1979, a man walking through an open field in the area of Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard observed the body of a female lying in the dirt. This was where the El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Casino previously stood. Police responded and pronounced the female was deceased.
The Clark County Coroner’s office conducted an autopsy and ruled her death to be a homicide. At the time, none of the investigative efforts led to the identification of the female and she was given the name of Sahara Sue Doe.
The case remained unsolved and was assigned to the LVMPD Homicide Cold Case Section.
In September 2022, LVMPD Cold Case Investigators requested a forensic genetic genealogy investigation performed by Othram. Through leads on the case, detectives were able to identify and contact possible family members who gave DNA samples for comparison.
On November 15, 2023, detectives were notified by Othram that Sahara Sue Doe had been positively identified through DNA as Gwenn Marie Story.
Cold Case Investigators learned through family members that, Story who was 19 at the time of her death, had left the Cincinnati, Ohio area in the summer of 1979. She was traveling to California in an effort to locate her biological father.
Story left Ohio with two male friends, who returned to the Cincinnati area in August 1979. The male friends told Story’s family members they had left her in the Las Vegas area.
According to her family, they never heard from Story after she left Cincinnati in the summer of 1979.
The LVMPD Homicide Cold Case Section is investigating this case. Anyone with information about Gwenn Marie Story, or the two males she traveled to Las Vegas with, is urged to contact the Homicide Section by phone at 702-828-3521, or by email at homicide@lvmpd.com.
To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555, or on the internet at www.crimestoppersofnv.com.