Detectives identify woman's remains from 1971 South Lake Tahoe missing person cold case
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE – A breakthrough has been made in a South Lake Tahoe missing person cold case from the early 1970s.
Back in 1971, Donna Lass was reported missing to the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.
While the investigation went nowhere at the time, the Placer County Sheriff's Office did find a skull off Highway 20 near Interstate 80 more than a decade later. However, detectives at the time couldn't identify that person.
The skull was preserved and, in recent years, was re-examined by Placer County's new cold case team.
With advancements in DNA technology at their disposal, the skull found in 1986 had DNA that matched with a member of Lass' family. The remains were then positively identified as that of Donna Lass.
Detectives contacted Lass' family last week and announced to the public on Wednesday that Lass' remains had been identified.
"We are extremely grateful that this team effort was able to bring closure to the Lass family and are hopeful that cold case detectives can continue to make advances in these cases," the sheriff's office wrote in a statement.
Exactly how Lass died is still unknown.
