PEND OREILLE COUNTY, Wash. — The Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office (POCS) has identified the human remains of a Montana woman who went missing in 1968.
With the help of local Washington agencies, the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office (SCMEO) and genetic genealogy, the POC Sherriff's Office identified the remains of Mildred (Allison) Hubertz, whose skull was initially found in November 1982.
14 years after she went missing, POCS officials responded to a report of a human skull found by a hunter in a wooded area north of Newport in 1982. Multiple agencies examined the remains, but the case got cold after they were not able to identify who they belonged to.
In 1999, POCS undersheriff Mike Cress located the skull in a box at the sheriff's office and began the investigation.
With newly available DNA technology, the skull was sent in March 2017 to the Washington State Forensic Anthropologist at the King County Medical Examiner's Office to obtain DNA samples that were not taken during the initial exam when the skull was found.
The DNA samples from that examination reported the skull belonged to an adult female, but dental and fingerprint records were not available on the case. The case information was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). A section of the skull was sent for DNA extraction and uploaded to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
In September 2022, the POC Sheriff's Office was invited by the SCMEO to join a collaboration with Othram, Inc. to obtain an advanced DNA profile suitable for investigative genetic genealogy for the unsolved cold case. Othram Inc. specializes in forensic genealogy to resolve unsolved murders, disappearances and the identification of unidentified descendants or murder victims.
In October 2022, a section of the skull was sent to Othram, Inc. for additional testing. Four months later, the DNA was tested and uploaded to genealogical databases.
The DNA profile was uploaded to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA, which obtained a match. The profile matched Allison, who disappeared from St. Ignatius, Montana in 1968.
DNA reference testing of Allison's great-granddaughter helped confirm Allison's identity, who was 59-years-old when she went missing. On March 20, 2023, the POCS officially identified Allison. The circumstances of her disappearance are still unknown.
Anyone with information about the circumstances around Allison's disappearance is asked to contact POCS Sergeant Mitch Parnell at (509) 447-1911.
POCS thanked all the individuals and organizations that helped solve the cold case.
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