Woman found dead in California vineyard 13 years ago has now been identified, cops say
A woman’s body was found 13 years ago in a vineyard in California, deputies said.
DNA testing recently identified the remains as 64-year-old Ada Beth Kaplan of Canyon Country, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said in a Jan. 4 news release.
Kaplan’s unidentified body was found March 29, 2011, in Arvin, deputies said. Arvin is about 20 miles southeast of Bakersfield.
Investigators ran her fingerprints and reviewed missing person records but were unable to identify her, deputies said.
A DNA profile was then created by a coroner and added to the Combined DNA Index System, a federal DNA database, but a match was never made, deputies said.
An autopsy was also conducted on her body, and her death was ruled as a result of homicide.
Kaplan was buried, and her case wasn’t revisited until July 2020, deputies said. That’s when investigators worked with the DNA Doe Project to build a family tree based on her genetic profile.
Two potential family members were identified in July 2023, deputies said. They provided their DNA to be tested, which helped authorities identify the body as Kaplan’s.
A missing person report was never filed for Kaplan, and a suspect is not known, authorities said.
This story was originally published January 5, 2024 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Woman found dead in California vineyard 13 years ago has now been identified, cops say."
