DNA technology identifies murder victim as Calgary woman almost 50 years later

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A half-century after she was first reported missing, a Calgary woman has been identified as the person whose human remains were discovered in a shallow grave just outside the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev.

Las Vegas police said in a press release that a missing persons report was initially filed for Anna Sylvia Just in 1968 after her belongings were discovered in the desert in the Henderson area.

Police said an extensive search was conducted of the area at the time, but the missing woman couldn’t be located.

However, during their investigation police said they uncovered allegations she was murdered by a man named Thomas Hanley, a union leader and reputed mobster, although those allegations were never proven.

Another man, Alphonse Bass, who provided a statement to police implicating Hanley in Just’s murder, later died mysteriously in a fire.

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In June of 1970, children playing in the area near where Just had disappeared discovered some human remains in a shallow grave.

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While the remains could not be identified at the time, the cause of death was ruled a homicide due to a depressed fracture of the skull.

Las Vegas police say genetic genealogy testing, using DNA collected by Calgary police, has helped them identify a Calgary woman as the person whose remains were discovered in a shallow grave outside Las Vegas almost 50 years ago.

Credit: Facebook/LasVegasMetro

Then, in October of 2024, Las Vegas police say they were contacted by Calgary police who were still investigating a separate missing person’s report for Just that suggested she may have been in the Las Vegas area around the time of her disappearance.

Las Vegas police provided investigators in Calgary with the name of a relative who helped connect them with Just’s biological sister.

Her sister was able to provide investigators with a DNA sample, and through genetic genealogy testing, which involves comparing it with DNA collected from evidence at the crime scene, investigators were able to confirm that Just was the person whose remains had been found in Nevada.

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