Forensic genealogy testing helped investigators finally identify a 26-year-old woman as the second victim in a 1987 double-fatal crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, authorities said.
Linda J. McClure, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, was a passenger in a tractor-trailer that crashed Oct. 22, 1987, while traveling east near mile marker 119.4 in Stoneycreek Township, Somerset County, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
State police said the tractor-trailer caught fire after crashing into the fuel tank on another truck. McClure and her driver, a California man, both died, but McClure remained unidentified for decades.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission agreed to pay for forensic genetic genealogy DNA testing in August 2022, state police said.
State police said investigators got in touch with McClure’s family, who said they had not heard from her since the late 1980s. Her family did not report her missing.
After her brother submitted a DNA sample, state police said they were able to confirm McClure was killed in the crash.
“There were many obstacles in this case but none that deterred the outcome,” Major Michael Carroll, a state police commander, said in a Tuesday news release. “I commend the troopers who remained dedicated to their duty and ultimately brought closure to this case.”
