LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators said Thursday they have linked the murder of a 20-year-old woman whose body was found in 1995 to that of a missing person who vanished from her home on California’s Central Coast.

They are now asking the public’s help in finding the killer of Gail Allen, who was from Morro Bay.

Tissue samples taken from the body of an unidentified murder victim in October 1995 were recently matched to those of Allen.

Her body was found in Covina. She was listed as a Jane Doe until this June, when investigators made the link.

“She was discovered unclothed in a sleeping bag, burned, dumped off the side of the road,” sheriff’s Lt. Dave Dolson told reporters. “About 17 years later she was finally identified.”

He said the break in identifying her came when the DNA in the tissue samples was linked to the DNA of her parents.

Authorities asked that anyone with information call the Sheriff’s Department’s homicide bureau at 323-890-5500.

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