After 40 years a DNA swab helped solve the mystery of a mother's disappearance

Thanks to technological advances and a team seeking the truth to an unsolved mystery, Misty discovered her mother leaving “may not have been her choice.” 

Connie Christensen holds her daughter Misty. Credit: Supplied

Misty LaBean was only a year old when her mother left her family. As a mother now, she always wondered how she could walk away. Years later, a call from a stranger would give her the answers. 

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“After my own kids were born, I was like, how could she have left me like that?” Misty told CNN. “I would never do that to my kids.”

Connie Christensen disappeared 40 years ago from her home state of Wisconsin and it wasn’t the first time. She had left before, running away as a teenager and even doing a stint at a carnival.

Growing up, Misty heard very little about her mother as the rest of her family was hurt and reluctant even to talk about Christensen, believing she’d chosen to walk away at just 20 years old.

Thanks to technological advances and a team seeking the truth to an unsolved mystery, Misty would have her unanswered questions answered. And that her mother leaving “may not have been her choice.” 

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Technology and ancestry solved a mystery 

In December 1982, hunters had found remains at a creek in east-central Indiana. It was a sketch artist who first used a clay bust to try to recreate the face. However, the remains were damaged beyond recognition due to flooding, but the Wayne County Coroner’s Office never stopped trying to figure out their identity.

Misty’s life continued with her mother still on her mind while forensic technology made strides. In fact, in 2021, the team went back to the evidence found near Martindale Creek to see if it could extract any DNA to figure out who the remains belonged to, chief deputy officer Lauren Ogden told CNN.

The coroner had failed twice to get any DNA from the remains, but then Lauren explained that her team tried DNA from the bone in the foot. 

Around that same time, someone in Christensen’s family became interested in genealogy and encouraged her relatives to submit DNA records to help people build their family tree.

The free service that the family used happened to work with the DNA Doe Project, a non-profit that uses investigative genetic genealogy to identify anonymous remains. 

After decades of no leads, within 24 hours, the non-profit had narrowed the remains to the Christensen siblings. So Lauren was the first to call Misty to ask her to help in identifying Jane Doe’s remains. 

“Being on the ground floor,” Ogden recalled, “I was the one that called her daughter and said, ‘I’m a complete stranger, can I come … swab your cheek?’”

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Misty LaBean had wondered her whole life why her mother had left her. Credit: Supplied

Finally an answer

They found a match; it was Misty’s mother, Connie. Her mother had died via a gunshot wound. 

She went to the spot near Martindale Creek where her mother’s remains had been found and wondered how the killer had gotten Christensen so far away from the nearest bus line.

“In some ways, it makes me feel a little bit better,” Misty said, learning the real story of her mum’s absence. “But it also makes me angry because I could have had the chance to know her, and somebody took that chance away from me.”

Knowing what had happened to Connie helped the family open up to Misty about who her mother was before she disappeared. 

“The biggest thing is I’ve always loved animals,” Misty said. “And then I found out that she really liked cats. That’s kind of something I got from her.”   

She also reclaimed the opal ring her mother was wearing when she died, a nod to her own childhood when some of the first jewellery pieces she held dear were opals. The gold band with two diamonds and an opal hangs on a chain around the neck of the grown daughter – now a mother herself.

Connie’s remains were laid to rest among her relatives, including her parents.

“We were able to get her family back to the site where her mum was found so they could leave flowers and have some quiet moments out there,” the deputy chief coroner said.

“Connie would have been an amazing mother to her only daughter, Misty, and her husband, Dan LaBean. She never had the chance to be a great and loving grandmother.” 

Originally published as After 40 years a DNA swab helped solve the mystery of a mother's disappearance