Thurston Sheriff’s Office releases identity of human remains found in 2009
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office have identified the remains found near a Lacey elementary school 16 years ago — 20 years after the person went missing.
On Wednesday, Aug. 27, advanced DNA technology confirmed the remains belonged to Donald Myrel Nelson, who was reported missing to the Lacey Police Department in February 1989, just weeks before his 29th birthday.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, human remains were discovered in a field near Meadows Elementary School in Lacey on April 30, 2009. The remains couldn’t be identified at the time of discovery.
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit had worked for years with the Thurston County Coroner’s Office, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification’s Missing Persons Unit, Othram (genetic genealogy), and the Washington State Patrol crime lab to try to identify the remains. Nelson’s family assisted throughout the process.
But the case is still open since the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t know what happened to Nelson. The Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit is asking anyone with information about Nelson’s disappearance to contact investigators at TCSOColdCase@co.thurston.wa.us. Reference case number 09-002677.
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