After 4 decades, Montana shooting victim is identified through DNA: "Our family is broken-hearted"

Officials in western Montana, working with a private DNA lab in Texas, have identified the victim of an early 1980s homicide and are now investigating to see if she may have died at the hands of a suspected serial killer, the Missoula County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

DNA obtained from the skeletonized remains, which were found in Missoula County in September 1985, was compared to commercial databases and was traced to the family of Janet Lee Lucas of Spokane, Washington. Lucas was 23 when she was last seen in Sandpoint, Idaho in the summer of 1983. "After decades of missing Janet, our family is broken-hearted to learn that she was tragically taken, unidentified and spent a large amount of years alone," her family said in a statement released by the sheriff's office. "However, she never spent one moment without being loved. Janet had a contagious smile, warm personality and wore her heart on her sleeve."