1979 Las Vegas cold case identified as 19-year-old Cincinnati woman Gwenn Marie Story

After a decades-long cold case, the body of a teen who was found in Las Vegas in 1979 has been identified 44 years later, authorities announced Tuesday.

The body was identified as Gwenn Marie Story, who was a 19-year-old woman from Cincinnati, Ohio when she was killed in Las Vegas.

In August 1979, a man was walking through an open field In Las Vegas where the El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Casino previously stood when he saw the body of a female lying in the dirt. Once police responded, she was found to be dead at the scene, and the Clark County Coroner's Office ruled her death to be a homicide following an autopsy.

Sahara Sue Doe

At the time, she was not identified, and was given the name Sahara Sue Doe, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.

For years, the case remained unsolved, and was assigned to the homicide cold case section. In September 2022, investigators requested a forensic genetic genealogy investigation, and detectives were able to identify and contact possible family members who gave DNA samples for comparison.

On Nov. 15, detectives working the case were notified that Sahara Sue Doe had been identified through DNA as Story.

Who was Gwenn Marie Story?

According to police who learned through her family members, 19-year-old Story had left the Cincinnati, Ohio area in the summer of 1979, and was traveling to California in an effort to find her biological father. She left Ohio with who male friends, who returned to Cincinnati in August 1979, and told her family that they had left her in Las Vegas.

Her family told police they never heard from her again after she left Cincinnati that summer.

Is the case still ongoing?

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Cold Case Section is investigating the case, and anyone with information about Gwenn Marie Story, or the two males she traveled to Las Vegas with is urged to contact the Homicide Section by phone at 702-828-3521, or by email at homicide@lvmpd.com.

You can remain anonymous by contacting Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555, or online at www.crimestoppersofnv.com.