Dead body identified 20 years later through daughter’s DNA

Authorities in Indiana were able to identify a dead body found 20 years ago with the help of DNA technology and are hoping to solve the murder case.

The woman — Tina L. Cabanaw of Detroit — was IDed by the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department who used an FBI lab in Virginia, the National Missing Persons DNA Database, and a genetic genealogy database.

They finally confirmed Cabanaw’s identity after using a DNA test of her daughter, Jessica Gallegos of Colorado.

“I was starting to lose the hope. It was 20 years later when I got the call,” Gallegos told The Herald-Republican. “It was over.”

Cabanaw was reported missing to the Detroit Police Department in July 1999. Her body was found outside of Angola, Indiana, on Sept. 6, 1999, in an area that is now a golf course.

Authorities estimated that the body had been there for several weeks.

The Northeast Indiana Forensic Center conducted an inconclusive autopsy, authorities said.

“The cause of death was ruled undetermined but highly suspicious,” read a Sunday news release from the sheriff’s department. After the positive identification, police are “continuing their investigation” in Cabanaw’s death.

Gallegos, who was 16 when her mom went missing, made a recent visit to her mother’s gravesite at Carter Cemetery in Steuben County, Indiana.

“It hurts just because I may not have closure. I have searched for her every year,” Gallegos said.

“But my hopes of finding her (alive) are crushed. There is some good from the closure; I don’t have to search for her anymore.”

With Post wires

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