Farmer found woman’s remains on land, sheriff says. DNA identifies her 34 years later
A farmer found the remains of a missing woman on his land in 1988, and DNA recently helped identify her, authorities in Colorado said.
Nora Elia Castillo’s remains were identified in October, the Baca County Sheriff’s Office said in a Sunday, Oct. 30, news release.
Castillo’s remains were found on a farmer’s property about 20 miles from Springfield in June 1988, authorities said.
Authorities discovered the remains had been on the land for a year to three years, though they couldn’t find anything around her remains that could identify her.
Her dental records were submitted to the National Crime Information Center, her DNA was taken to be analyzed, and an anthropological study was conducted but no matches returned, authorities said.
Castillo’s remains were then buried in the Springfield Cemetery.
Then in May 2021, a Colorado Bureau of Investigation intern submitted the data from Castillo’s case into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
The Baca County Coroner’s Office sent her DNA to Solved by DNA in July 2021 to help identify her, authorities said.
Her remains were exhumed months later to test more DNA samples. Then the Colorado Bureau of Investigation submitted a new DNA profile into the missing persons system.
Solved by DNA notified authorities there was a familial match. A family member then gave another DNA sample to the company.
By Oct. 6, 2022, officials learned the familial data was a match to Castillo.
It also matched DNA that Castillo’s daughter gave to police in 2004. The woman had been looking for her mother, and now, years later, investigators were able to identify the remains as Castillo, authorities said.
A missing person case had been filed for the woman in 1996, but Castillo was last heard from in 1986 or 1987 through a collect call in Colorado, authorities said.
Castillo’s family was notified, and they were able to visit her at the cemetery.
Authorities still don’t know why she was in Colorado or how she died.
Springfield is about 210 miles southeast from Colorado Springs.
This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Farmer found woman’s remains on land, sheriff says. DNA identifies her 34 years later."
