SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The remains of a local woman who vanished 12 years ago have been identified in Utah, and detectives are working to identify her killer, police said.
The remains were discovered by duck hunters near Great Salt Lake in 2000.
Since then, police were able to narrow the list of possible identities because of a new technique that reveals the regions of the country a person has visited based on traces of what is in strands of hair.
The technology allowed police to identify the remains as Nikole Bakoles.
Bakoles was 19 when she disappeared, leaving a 1 ½-year-old daughter behind.
Detectives said Bakoles’ death was a homicide, but are not saying how she was killed.
As her family grieves, detectives are starting their investigation.
Police have already interviewed Bakoles’ former boydriend, Joel Chaudon, who’s in prison in Monoe on unrelated charges.
Bakoles’ family said that before her death, she got involved in drugs and she and her ex-boyfriend lost custody of their daughter.
KIRO
