A woman who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Laguna Beach and remained unidentified for more than four decades has now been positively identified, authorities confirmed.
The victim was Virginia Irene Nelson, known as “Ginny” to her family. She was 46 years old at the time of her death. Originally from Yonkers, New York, Nelson was last known to be living in Fresno, California, before she was killed.
On Jan. 30, 1982, a driver discovered a woman’s body along Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. Investigators determined she had died only hours earlier and had been struck by a hit-and-run vehicle.
At the time, authorities were unable to identify her because she had no personal belongings. She was initially described only as a white woman believed to be between 50 and 65 years old.
Despite investigators having a “recognizable face, dental work, fingerprints, and surgical scars,” they were unable to determine her identity, and the case went cold for more than 40 years.
In November 2023, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office partnered with the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying unidentified deceased individuals and reuniting them with their families.
Volunteer investigative genetic genealogists began reviewing the case and, within a single weekend, were able to uncover the woman’s identity.
According to the organization, a relative of the victim had uploaded a DNA profile to a database accessible to law enforcement. That profile, combined with additional DNA matches, quickly led researchers to the correct family, where they identified Virginia Irene Nelson.
With multiple DNA matches connected to the Nelson family, the information was presented to the Sheriff’s Department as a strong lead. Investigators then contacted a living family member, who confirmed Nelson’s identity.
“Close matches do not always guarantee a quick or easy resolution,” said Jeana Feehery, a team co-leader at the DNA Doe Project. “But in this case, we were fortunate to have strong matches on both sides of her family, along with publicly shared family trees that helped establish those connections.”
Although Nelson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, she was raised in Yonkers, just outside New York City. She later moved to California and was living in Fresno by 1967, a detail investigators uncovered through a newspaper article reporting that she had been mugged there that year. After that incident, she largely disappeared from public records.
The DNA Doe Project expressed gratitude to the agencies and individuals who assisted in solving the case, including the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Genologue, Kevin Lord, GEDmatch Pro, FamilyTreeDNA, and teams of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists who worked to bring closure to Nelson’s family after more than four decades.