The victim was located in the back of an abandoned green van parked in the old Yakima Hardware Company parking lot on South Front Street. The vehicle belonged to the non-profit group OIC of Washington but had not been driven for months. The rear door could be latched but not locked. Inside the back of the van, the woman's body was face down and nude but for socks on her feet. She was not killed inside the vehicle. A green sweater and a blue shirt had been placed over her upper body. She was struck in the face with a blunt object, strangled and sexually mutilated. Around the time the murder was publicized, tipsters told police the victim was a West Valley resident living with her boyfriend, a man thought she was his ex-wife, a notary public speculated the victim was one of two married individuals seeking a divorce. Another claimed to have seen the a young woman at a cafe along North First Street, who lived in at the Roza Hotel and spent time with members of a motorcycle gang. Additionally, an investigator working on a missing person case from Mount Rainier National Park called, citing that the decedent's similar description. The victim was exhumed in July 2004. Despite that fingerprints and tissue samples were sent to an FBI lab in Washington, D. C. , her identity was never established. Authorities may use genetic genealogy in efforts to identify the victim. Surgical abdominal scar and a small five-point star tattooed on inner right thigh.