Swamp Mountain Jane Doe Finally Identified After Nearly Half a Century

20 September 2025

In a breakthrough that brings long-overdue closure to one family, authorities in Oregon have confirmed the identity of a woman once known only as “Swamp Mountain Jane Doe.” Her name is Marion Vinetta Nagle McWhorter and she went missing in October 1974 at age 21. After remains were found in 1976 near Wolf Creek, by Swamp Mountain, her death remained unsolved until DNA technology recently caught up with the case.

McWhorter was last seen at a mall in Tigard, a suburb of Portland. She had been planning to travel to Alaska via Seattle, and she made one phone call to an aunt from near the mall asking for a ride. That call turned out to be her final confirmed sighting. Trauma around her disappearance has haunted those who loved her ever since.

Her remains were discovered in 1976 when a “moss hunter” spotted a skull with several teeth near a creek in the Central Cascades of Linn County. Along with skeletal remains also came a number of personal items Levi jeans, a leather coat, a belt with beadwork, two metal rings, and a clog-style shoe. Despite this, early investigations lacked the technology to identify her.

Over the years investigators collected bone samples. In 2010 a sample was sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification and a profile was entered into NamUs, a U.S. missing persons database. More detailed DNA analysis came in 2020. The major breakthrough arrived in 2025 when genealogists traced McWhorter’s lineage. Her younger sister, Valerie Nagle, who had submitted her own DNA in 2023, was confirmed as a relative after a distant cousin once removed uploaded DNA to FamilyTreeDNA. That match allowed investigators to conclusively identify the remains.

Valerie was just 11 when Marion vanished. She said she spent years hoping for answers, watching unidentified persons databases, scrolling through names, looking for any sign of her sister. When authorities reached out in June 2025 to compare DNA, it felt like someone had finally heard a long-silent plea.

Before Marion’s disappearance, there is one detail that was revealed much later: she told her aunt that a man in a white pickup truck had offered her a ride. That tidbit only came out nearly two decades after the disappearance. It remains unverified and is still under investigation.

Marion was the oldest of five siblings. Her mother was Alaska Native from the Ahtna Athabascan people and family members say Marion was named for an aunt who in 1940 died at a boarding school that served Indigenous children. Her Indigenous heritage places her among many missing Indigenous women whose cases have historically received less attention.

Officials have emphasized that McWhorter likely did not go missing voluntarily. Though the exact cause of death is undetermined, law enforcement continues to investigate the case. Linn County Sheriff’s Office is exploring the circumstances surrounding where and how she died.

Valerie expressed relief that the name has been found but also sorrow. Living so many years without knowing what happened to Marion has left its mark. She said she “never forgot about her sister.”