15-year-old found buried in shallow grave at vineyard identified in 1978 cold case

Cold Case Unsealed · Jul 31, 2026 · 43m

After nearly five decades, authorities have successfully identified the remains of Michelle Louise Collier, a fifteen-year-old girl discovered in a California vineyard in 1978. For decades, she was known only as Arvin Jane Doe until a partnership between law enforcement and a private laboratory used forensic genetic genealogy to bridge the gap between skeletal evidence and living relatives. The breakthrough provided long-awaited answers for her surviving family, who were finally able to reclaim her remains for a proper burial. While the identification marks a major milestone in the cold case…