28 Years Later, Family Of Missing Santa Ana Woman Get Answers
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Decades after a woman vanished, her family now knows what happened to her after testing DNA samples from relatives against unidentified human remains.
It took 28 years but Kristyne Olivia Trejo's brother and children know that the skull and arm bone found in a desolate spot in the San Bernardino County desert is the missing Santa Ana mother.
"I'm sad that we're not bringing her home alive, but at least we have her. We can properly lay her to rest and we can start the process of healing," said Andrew Trejo, her son.
Confirmation came just a few days ago through a DNA match.
After years of wondering, the victim's son and daughter, who spent night after night hoping that their mom would walk through the door, were among five relatives who showed up months ago at the first-ever "Identify the Missing" event at the Orange County Coroner's office.
Cheek swabs were given and sent to a national database.
Finally, the whereabouts of the then 27-year-old married waitress, who left home to attend a meeting, have been solved.
Her grieving family is certain her disappearance is a case of homicide.
"Having her home is a little closure, but really it's not to me because I don't know what happened to her," said Tina Costa, the victim's daughter. "Someone out there did this to her, someone out has been living with this, knowing this. Maybe other people knew about it, just never told us."
Costa and her older brother put up a makeshift cross at the place where her remains were found and wrote her name in the desert sand.
