Authorities in Marana say they've identified a teenage shooting victim killed in 1987 as being from Spokane, Washington.
The Marana Police Department announced Wednesday that DNA submitted by relatives for testing showed conclusively that the victim was Deanna Lee Criswell.
She would have been 16 years old when her body was found Nov. 25, 1987. The woman was shot to death and attempts to identify her were not successful.
Marana police said advances in forensic science enabled them to identify Criswell's killer through DNA tests in 2011 as a convict who died in prison in 2005 while serving a life sentence for a series of armed robberies.
His identity was not released.
The case went cold again when authorities could not link the woman's DNA to any samples in a national DNA database. However, information about the victim and case was posted to various social media sites, Marana police said.
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In time, a couple in Florida seeking information about their missing niece contacted Marana police about the unidentified victim. The woman was identified after DNA submitted by her mother, father and step-sister matched her DNA, Marana police said.
