Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Tourist Searching Desert for Rocks Finds Tot Girl's Dead Body

Episode Date: June 10, 2022

A little girl's body, burned and buried in the desert of Arizona, is found by a tourist looking for rocks. For over 50 years, the girl is known only as  “Little Miss Nobody” as investigators are unable to confirm her race, age, or identity. An autopsy showed none of her bones are broken and there are no signs of trauma before death. Now a name has been given, Sharon Lee Gallegos, 4.  Gallegos was reported abducted from her grandmother’s home in Alamogordo, New Mexico, 10 days before her body was found.  Originally, FBI agents concluded that Gallegos was not the child found in the desert, as her footprints did not match the unidentified child’s. Now a DNA analysis proved their initial assertion to be incorrect. Joining Nancy Grace Today  Dr. Kristen Mittelman - Chief Development Officer, Othram Inc., DNAsolves.com, Twitter: @OthramTech Dale Carson - High Profile Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent, Former Police Officer, Author: "Arrest-Proof Yourself, DaleCarsonLaw.com  Dr. Jorey Krawczyn - Psychologist, Faculty Saint Leo University; Consultant Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S.   Dr. Michelle DuPre - Former Forensic Pathologist, Medical Examiner and Detective: Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Author: "Homicide Investigation Field Guide" & "Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide", Forensic Consultant DMichelleDupreMD.com   Morris Nix - Detective, Cobb County Cold Case Unit  Briana Whitney - Emmy Award-Winning Reporter, CBS 5 & 3 TV "Arizona's Family", Twitter: @BrianaWhitney, Host: ‘True Crime Arizona’ podcast and TV Franchise  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A tiny girl's body found in sand and rocks. She was dead, but also taken from her, her name. Years go by. This tiny girl never identified. She became known as Little Miss Nobody. I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. How does the story unfold? Listen to our friends at the County Sheriff's Office in Yavapai County. Somebody who was out looking for rocks, it was a gentleman out of Las Vegas, was out looking for rocks around Highway 93, the Congress area, Alamo Lake Road,

and came across her partially buried body. Called in, our deputies and detectives went out, they recovered her, they, you know, tried to identify her. The course is 1960. Medical science has advanced quite a bit since then. But originally she was thought to be a seven-year-old girl. And because of the state of decomposition, that was the best estimate that they could give. Just take that in for a moment. A little girl's body found by some guy looking for rocks out in the middle of nowhere.

This child left in the elements under the sun, the wind, the rain, embedded in sand and rocks? How did this happen? Who is Little Miss Nobody? Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thanks for being with us. With me, an all-star panel to analyze what we know first of all dr kristin

middleman chief development officer at authoram inc dnasolves.com dale carson high profile lawyer joining me out of jacksonville former fed with the fbi and author of arrestrest Proof Yourself on Amazon. A renowned psychologist, Dr. Jory Croson, joining us, faculty at St. Leo University, consultant with the Blue Wall Institute, and author of Operation SOS. Dr. Michelle Dupree, forensic pathologist, medical examiner, sheriff's department with Lexington County,

and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Morris Nix, longtime friend and colleague, Detective Cobb County Cold Case Unit. But first, to Brianna Whitney, Emmy Award-winning reporter, CBS 5 and 3 TV Arizona's family Brianna thank you so much for being with us first of all I want to understand the area where little miss nobody was found could you describe that for us yeah so she was found in Congress Arizona which is a town not many people have even heard of in Arizona and that's because it's so rural and it's so small in population. I don't think they have more than 2000 people that live there. Even to this day,

it's one of those towns where if you're maybe driving to Prescott or Flagstaff or Sedona, you might drive through it and not even know you drove through it. So it's interesting that that man was out there looking for rocks because had somebody not been out there for a specific reason, I don't think that her remains may have been found. There's just nothing out there. It's really rural Arizona, the most you can get. I'm trying to imagine what you're talking about with me, Brianna Whitney, award-winning reporter. Brianna, what does it look like? I mean, is it desert land? Is there cactus? Are there trees,

forests, water, river? What does it look like? So Arizona's terrain is interesting because in Phoenix and down in the valley, you have the desert. What you picture is Arizona, the cacti, the rocks, things like that. But as you go north and northwest where this is, it doesn't look the same. It completely changes. So we're talking rural, but it's not that desert that you picture. There's some trees, even some redwoods and pines up there. And imagine just flat land and one highway in and out that most people aren't stopping at. They're just going through.

In that area, there's a lot of truck stops, small gas stations, but that's about it. Of course, I'm taking in everything you're saying and my ears really perked up when you said near a highway. So it's kind of, as you're saying, the middle of nowhere. Let me go to Dale Carson, former fellow with the FBI, now lawyer in Jacksonville. Dale, this is the perfect example, and I've used it before, the case of Dylan and Shasta Groney, who if you take an aerial view of where they lived in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, you look down, there's nothing but green, the tops of trees. That's it. But there's an interstate going through Coeur d'Alene.

And the person that kidnapped Dylan and Shasta, a brother and a sister, was driving the interstate, looked over, and saw Shasta in the distance on an above-ground pool. Pulled off, stalked the family, waited for the night, killed the whole family, and took the children. And you can imagine the rest she was only rescued after many many nights of us covering it when a woman at like a 7-eleven gas station saw her and recognized her from tv coverage that's how she was saved her brother had been molested and murdered. So when we say, when you're hearing Breanna Whitney,

who, by the way, is host of True Crime Arizona's podcast, when you hear her describing what I envision like a windswept desert area with some redwood trees, cacti, that interstate changes who may have killed this child. Of course, at the beginning, they don't even know if she was killed or wandered away. But in an area that remote, Dale Carson, we would know if a child had wandered away. Well, that's exactly right. The family would know that the child wandered away. And for a young child to be found in a washed out area where somebody would go to look for rocks and things like that is obviously extremely unusual. And the interstate brings in interstate.

And those areas allow people to drive by, see that gully and figure that's the best place to place a body. Dale Carson, it's Highway 93. That is a long stretch of road. So this child could come from anywhere and her body just be dumped there. I agree. There's no indication she just wandered off. And at that young age, she's certainly not a runaway. Guys, take a listen to our friend Linda Williams

Phoenix. It appears someone in Arizona got away with murder. A little girl between three and five years old found partially buried in the desert. Who was she and who put her body in the sandwashed creek bed in Congress, Arizona? With no answers over the years, some nicknamed the victim Little And we're seeing now the age is changing. To Dr. Michelle Dupree, forensic pathologist, medical examiner, we first heard the child is seven. Now we're hearing she's as young as three to five years old. How do you come up with the age change? Well, Nancy, we look at the body itself,

and we look particularly at the skull. We look at the size and the length of the bones, and doing measurements like that, we can narrow the age down a lot better. Based on the length of the bones? Based on the length of the bones, based on whether the epiphyseal, which is a part of the bone,

that is solidified or not. What about the teeth? We can look epiphyseal, which is the part of the bone that is solidified or not. What about the teeth? We can look at the teeth as well, absolutely, if there are teeth available. And when you say you can look at the teeth, if you're looking at the mouth of a child that's three versus the mouth of a child that's seven, what would you expect to find? You would expect to find older teeth. You would expect to find more permanent teeth.

Being there, not as many baby teeth. And a younger child, which would fall out. So you would expect to find older teeth, if you will. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We are analyzing it in such a sterile way to Morris Nix, my longtime friend and colleague, Cold Case Unit Cobb County detective. Morris, you and I have been working on the cold case of a little girl, Debbie Randall, for a really long time. Yes.

And here we all are analyzing the evidence. How long is the skeleton? How many teeth does she have? Where was she found? Brianna Whitney giving us a description, a verbal picture of what the area looks like. And I'm just imagining this little girl left out in sand and rocks to decompose. But you know what? It's not analytical because this child is somebody's baby.

Yes. Yes. You know, I'm curious as to why they burned the body. It doesn't treat me. Well, hold on. You're right, Morris Nix. The body we, was burned. Take a listen to reporter Joe Dana, 12 News. The girl's remains were found burned and partially buried in a wash in Congress, Arizona, about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix.

She was laid to rest in an unnamed grave. Over the decades, the cold case simply referred to as the case of Little Miss Nobody. The primary goal is to find out who she is. That's right, Morris Nix. You've got to know who your victim is to start the investigation, because, you know, investigations would typically start in a case like this with people that knew or even related to the little girl victim. Well, I'm curious as to what they used. I was involved in another case where they thought they could put lighter fluid related to the little girl victim? Well, I'm curious as to what they used.

I was involved in another case where they thought they could put lighter fluid. And of course, we know that doesn't get hot enough. It just scorched the body. Was her body seriously burned or was it scorched? That's a really good question. And I want to follow up on that question to Dr. Kristen Middleman, Chief Development Officer at Off-RAM. Dr. Middleman, thank you for being with us. How badly does a body have to be burned to make it impossible to extract DNA from bones or teeth? So for us, because we're purpose-built to work with forensic evidence, That's all we do. We're able to work with evidence that, I mean,

cremation would be what you would have to do in order to assure that we would not be able to get DNA off of the body. But that's a very good point because most techniques out there and most labs out there could never get DNA from a body that has been burned at all, let alone badly burned as in this case. Why do you say, Dr. Middleman, that the body would have to be essentially cremated, in other words, burned, incinerated to preclude DNA? Because we have tailored our techniques in order to work with evidence that's otherwise thought to be inaccessible. Evidence that otherwise could not be processed and answers could never be gotten from and therefore identities would never be ascertained. So we have built methods that allow us to work with such low amounts of DNA or DNA that is super contaminated,

DNA that is mostly non-human, because as you know, if you're out in the elements, as Little Miss Nobody's body was, you have a lot of contamination that is non-human contamination. We have worked through every one of these obstacles that have previously prevented people from being able to sequence the DNA and create a profile that would give you back that person's identity. And the science is here. It's robust. You can look on DNA solves and look at our solve cases. And Dr. Middleman, when you say cremation, the temperature for cremation goes as high as about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.

I mean, that's more than any consumer oven or a fire pit. I mean, it brings to mind, Dr. Middleman, I don't know if you're familiar with the case of Teresa Hallback, or you may be familiar with the sensational documentary Making a Murderer about Stephen Avery, her killer, suggesting that he was framed. Stephen Avery, the night that the, she's 26, 27 year old, Teresa Hallback, she was a photographer for like a penny pincher. Oh, it was auto trader. And she went to his place to take pictures of a vehicle and disappeared. Not only was her car found on his property hidden, but that night Avery stirred a fire pit all night long.

His family, relatives, blood relatives, neighbors describe him stirring a fire pit all night. When police finally went to the location, they found not only the studs off the back of her Daisy Fuentes blue jeans, they also found teeth. Teeth. That was all that was left of Teresa Hallback. Can you get DNA from teeth? Yes. So I think that that's the case that Osram could work. And we have worked, and I can't announce prior to law enforcement announcing, but I can tell you that we have worked cases from charred remains, multiple cases that will be announced shortly. Charred remains. What if somebody's nothing but ashes?

Why can't you get, and I know this seems like a rudimentary question, but why can't you get DNA from ashes? Because it would travel through the ashes and it would be very hard to pinpoint where the location of that DNA would be there. It would be very hard to put it together. You don't want to, the ashes would have diluted that DNA out in a way that we wouldn't be able to find it and get it. When you have a tooth or you have a charred remain, even if it's, you know, super, super degraded. And that's something I should have said. Our methods are insensitive to degradation. We have been able to identify remains from 1881. We've been able to identify remains that are severely degraded

because they were underwater for decades and decades. And like I said, charred remains and it has never been an issue. So what you need is something that you can actually pinpoint to collect the DNA from. Ashes, I think, would be hard. To Dr. Jory Croson joining us, a renowned psychologist, faculty at St. Leo University, and consultant and author, I could go on. Dr. Jory, the thought, just think of it, and it's not pleasant. And I've had to force jurors to think of unpleasant thoughts before, much in this manner.

But imagine trying to burn a three-year-old girl's body. What kind of mindset could do that to put a flame to a child's skin? It's just very hard for me to comprehend that. Yeah, and the legal term, I guess, premeditation, I mean, just look at the, for lack of better term, the organization that he has. He's got to have a fuel source, so he's got to plan the location. This location is very difficult to get to. So, you know, trying to, like I say, profile or understand his behavior, there was somewhat of a plan in this location.

It may have just been the ruralness of it and where he could dispose of the body. You know what? Dr. Jory tells me he's been there before. Because if somebody asks me, where are you he could dispose of the body. You know what? Dr. Jory tells me he's been there before. Because if somebody asks me, where are you going to dispose of a body? I certainly would not think a Sand Creek Wash, Congress, Arizona. I wouldn't

even know to say that. So he had to be familiar with it. Yeah, and probably has disposed of bodies like this before also. Oh, you know what? You're right. I guarantee you this ain't his first time at the rodeo. Guaranteed. You don't go from zero to 120 MPH overnight.

Have you found that to be true? Morris Nix, Morris' cold case unit detective, Cobb County. I mean, this is not this guy's first time at violent crime. No. To rape and murder a three-year-old girl because you know that had to be why he took her then kill her and and and burn her body and leave it yeah it's um it goes to a certain level that most of us don't understand it's not something you do one time and in debbie's case that's what we have worked very hard to do is connect this with another case, which we haven't done yet.

But I agree this is not a one time thing. No, no, no, no, no. But there's another reason. Who's jumping in? Is this Dale? It is. It's Dale. Look, there's another reason you burn a body. You burn a body so it can't easily be identified. And the reason you do that is because there's somebody in the area or the vicinity missing.

And you don't want that person to be found. And an organized killer, as opposed to a disorganized killer, will plan things out just as we discussed. And will do things like this. They'll burn the body. They'll bury it, all in an effort to cover up what their behavior was. If you look, there probably may be other similar behavior patterns with bodies. There may be a lot that, of course, I haven't been found. More missing little girls because it takes a certain type of mind to want to rape a three-year-old girl.

That's not the same mind that wants to rape or attack an adult woman or a teen girl. So if there are other missing little girls, I would say throughout the region. I would try to connect it back to this. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Back to Little Miss Nobody. A tiny girl body found in sand

and rocks. Dead. Take a listen to our cut one. This is Justin Lum at Fox 10. Little girl between three and five years old found partially buried in the desert. The case still haunts the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office. Who is this little girl in the sketch dubbed Little Miss Nobody? Her partially buried remains found at Sandwash Creek in Congress, Arizona on July 31st, 1960.

Investigators believe her remains had been burned one to two weeks before she was discovered. The cause of death, undetermined yet suspicious, and it was ruled a homicide. Interesting. You know, I'm just trying to envision where she was left, the burning of her body. And I just heard a new fact to Brianna Whitney joining us, CBS 5 and 3 and the host of True Crime Arizona podcast. She was actually partially buried as well. Whitney, that had not jumped out at me before. Yeah. So that's where she was found partially buried in the ground, the dirt, which

I think confuses people even more because that obviously takes effort to do. It's not like her body was just dumped and they drove on. That took some time and some deliberate effort to partially bury her. I am assuming that because it is so rural out there and there isn't much, that was an attempt to hide the body, to conceal it so that people driving by didn't see it. But then that begs the question, why even dump it right there

if it would be so noticeable because there's nothing else there. And it took a guy walking around from another jurisdiction looking for a particular type of rock to come upon the body. And, you know, the reality is, Dr. Michelle Dupree, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, a lot of times individuals come across a dead body, they run the other way.

They do not want to be associated. They don't report it. Nothing. But this guy reported it. Exactly, Nancy. And I mean, we're grateful that they do, of course. And, you know, most most clandestine graves are at the most 18 inches deep. People don't want to take the time to bury a body deeply.

And so being partially buried or partially covered is not really unusual, especially after so many years. And I want to bring in the mind of a killer to this degree. This scene was staged. What does that mean? That means really any contact, movement, hiding, concealing the body post-mortem after death. For instance, everybody knows BTK, buy, torture, kill, Dennis Rader. hiding, concealing the body post-mortem after death. For instance, everybody knows BTK, buy, torture, kill, Dennis Rader.

He worked with a pound. He was a dog catcher. He had many, many murder victims. And after he murdered them, he would dress them up, pose them, take pictures of them. Same thing with Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy would bathe some of the bodies. He would apply hair and makeup to some of the bodies. Some he would decapitate, have sex with their remains, their head, their bathed body. He would go back and visit and visit and visit the dead bodies. One left in the woods, he would go back repeatedly until the decomposition was to a point

he could no longer go back for sexual gratification. All of that is staging. It can be putting a blanket over the body. I had one case where a mother was killed and the perp put a wicker basket trash can over her head. All of that is staging. And to you, Jill Carson, staging means you're connected to the person. A random killer kills and leaves. This guy burned the body. He tried to bury the body. He disposed of the body in a remote location. That's staging. Well, the body was probably fully buried. I mean, it's in a wash.

You get one good rain, and of course, then it becomes exposed, even though it was maybe a short time between the induction and the recovery of the body. We don't know. Guys, take a listen to our cut five. This is Linda Williams at Fox 10. You know, this little girl was somebody's daughter, was somebody's sister. This little girl mattered to somebody. And, you know, it's wonderful to see this technology being used in this way to close these and answer these questions from way back.

But once we know her name, what's next? YCSO donated $1,000 to further investigate this case. Then a crowdfunding website featured the Little Miss Nobody case. And the $4,000 requested to search for further answers was raised in 24 hours. More answers are coming on this little girl and perhaps justice. Once Little Miss Nobody's case was publicized, this child's identity unknown for so long, Everyone began clamoring to identify this little girl and solve the case. Take a listen to the Sheriff's Office press conference our cut to him. Authorities from Alamogordo reached out to Yavapai

County at some point, we believe in August, and in August said, hey, we had an abduction. We think that your found little girl might be our our kidnapped little girl but because of the age difference in the estimation our estimated age was seven years old Sharon was four years old and she was taken she was about to turn five that was one reason that they thought that this might not be her. The clothing description was different. And ultimately, there was a footprint comparison made by the FBI back in 1960 that said that the two were not the same.

Footprint comparisons are not obviously how we do things now, but that was probably the best technology they had available to them at the time. So our detectives looked at the possibility of this being Sharon Lee Gallegos, but then ultimately ruled that out and moved on to other suspects and other leads. Dale Carson, I've had to use a footprint analysis before. Could you explain how it's done? Absolutely. There are a couple of ways. One is to use plaster of Paris and to take the footprint and then find previously existing footprints and compare them. Another one would be the actual physical print, like a fingerprint.

Our toes and the bottom of our feet have these lines and these ridges as we have in fingerprints, and those can be compared to if there's sufficient remaining in order to do that. And in this case we learn detectives found out about a little girl who had gone missing but then ruled that out because of the age problem and the footprint the age discrepancy and the footprint seemingly didn't work take a listen to our cut to fox 10 lieutenant tom bolt says the case made no progress until 2018 when authorities exhumed her body to get a dna sample when you have remains that are that old at that time the best sample we were able to get was an incomplete sample.

Now YCSO has partnered with Authurm Incorporated for use of their private forensic lab. A better sample and better technology may be key. Bolt says familial DNA could lead investigators to a close relative of Little Miss Nobody and tracking that person down could provide answers. Hopefully they'll be able to, you know, if we get them identified through that familial database, they'll be able to call us and be able to tell us some of the background story on what happened to her and how she ended up out there. Now the idea of DNA, possibly possibly extracting DNA. Is it possible? Can it be done? Take a listen to this.

Now we will finally know her name, thanks in part to DNA technology. Well, there's been incredible advances in DNA technology that allow forensic technicians to extract DNA from bones and teeth that are more likely to be found in very old cases. In this case, the little girl's body was exhumed in 2018. Tuesday, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office with an outside DNA lab will announce who this child was. It's amazing to me the way the case is unfolding. You were just hearing our friend Linda Williams.

Now, take a listen to Joe Dana, 12. Back in January, 12 News spoke to Lieutenant Tom Boltz about the case. Boltz teamed up with the DNA lab Othram Incorporated in an attempt to link the girl to living relatives dna taken from the girl's remains are like a fingerprint that can be compared to the dna in existing databases in sunday's announcement the sheriff's office thanked the lab for conducting the analysis a mystery appears to be solved thanks to a modern investigative tool whether the girl has living relatives who finally have closure about her disappearance, we will find out this week when investigators provide more details. But from what we know, another family is left devastated. Remember the little girl that went missing?

Sharon Lee Gallegos, between three and six years old. Out to Brianna Whitney, joining us CBS 5 and 3. Tell me about Sharon's disappearance. So authorities had to basically work backwards with Sharon because all of the information from 1960 at the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office and anywhere else was not digitized. So they had to basically go back and rebuild this case to find out about her disappearance. We ended up learning that Sharon Lee Gallegos was four years old. She lived in Alamogordo, New Mexico with her family. And she had been outside playing with her cousins and another young child

in July of 1960 and that's when authorities tell us a car pulled up and abducted Sharon and drove away with her and at the time in Alamogordo, her disappearance was all over the newspapers and news outlets in New Mexico at the time. And it did make its way to Arizona. But that's when they decided or discovered that the footprint didn't match and they ruled Sharon out. Brianna Whitney, how far is it between the point where Sharon was abducted and Little Miss Nobody was found? Hours. I mean, you're talking Alamogordo that's in New Mexico, and her body was found in Northwest Arizona. And, you know, in the West, these states are pretty big. So we're talking hours and hours between where she was abducted to where that body was found. You know, it brings to mind a case that we covered a while back. It was the case of Samantha Runyon, a little girl about three years old, who was playing in the front yard

of her grandma. The grandmother was inside in the kitchen looking out the window and sees a perp come up and take Samantha and take off with her in a car. I've spoken with Samantha's mother, Erin Runyon, many, many times. And just to think how close the grandmother was to Samantha and the perp got away with her. Samantha was killed, but it reminds me of these circumstances. And at the time, many people believe that Sharon's family was at fault for letting her play in the yard. But she was playing with other children. Family was at home. And especially in 1960, who would have imagined, Mars Knicks, that someone would take little Sharon and kidnap her.

And she would never be seen alive again. You know, time was so different than that, you know, and people were much more trusting, they were much more secure. Who would have thought somebody would take Debbie 56 feet away from where she lived? Especially when she came out of the laundromat where there were several girls in there. But whoever did raise enough to do it, which has always brought me to the question, did she know her abductor? And I think she did. And I think that's why she went to the vehicle. But people that do these crimes are brazen. They are very brave. And it's a great

question. And I really don't know how to answer it. And you know what, Morris Nix, everything you just said applies to the case of the missing tot, Sharon Lee Gallegos, as well. But now back to little Miss Nobody. Can you imagine your child goes missing and you find out about a body being found states miles away and then you find out about a body being found states miles away, and then you find out it's not her. And for these remains to be called, to be dubbed Little Miss Nobody,

nobody. She was nobody for so long. Detectives did it all. Take a listen to our Cut 11. We had to piece a lot of what happened together from newspaper reports at the time. The FBI worked on this case. Alan Magordo PD worked on this case. Yavapai County Sheriff's Office worked on this case. But unfortunately, those reports are not around anymore.

So a lot of it that we've been able to formulate, you know, what happened to her is from old newspaper articles that we found on the Internet. We still have work to do in this case. We would still like to identify the people who took her. Finally, between DNA technology specifically at Othram Inc. and hard work by detectives. There's an answer. Take a listen to our cut eight, the sheriff's presser. We had contact with NCMEC, National Center for Missing Exploited Children and in 2015 they offered to fund the exhumation of Little Miss Nobody and fund the DNA extraction and testing. That was done in November of 2015. Unfortunately DNA science at that time

as advanced as it was wasn't advanced enough to give us an identity. About three weeks ago we got a call from David Middleton with Oathrom Labs. They had reached out to us about four or five months before that and said that they would like to try and get her identified and try and help us with the case. They offered to do so with crowdfunding. These things are very expensive.

We ended up partnering with them and doing that. We got that phone call about three weeks ago, maybe four weeks ago now, saying that they were 100% certain that Little Miss Nobody was Sharon Lee Gallegos. It's amazing to me, after all that the family of Sharon Gallegos went through, to be told this wasn't her. Just 10 days, a body was found after Sharon goes missing from the yard. All this time, it was, in fact, her. It was Sharon. Little Miss Nobody is Sharon Gallegos. Straight out to Dr. Kristen Middleman, Chief Development Officer,

Authorem Inc., DNAsolves.com. How did you do it? That's the key, Nancy. DNA technology is like all these other technologies. Two people can't do the same job. And Authorem, we built Authorem in 2018 so that we could adapt the most powerful technology that exists as far as sequencing on earth to forensics. And no one else has ever adopted that technology for forensics in the past. And it allows us to identify people

that otherwise are missed using these other DNA technologies. And that's exactly what happened in this case. I think part of the story that hasn't been told yet is that it actually went to an advanced DNA lab. And this process, in fact, there was no funding because the funding was used to test at this other lab in 2019. And the result was incorrect. And Sharon Gallegos was not identified. And that is the issue. Using the wrong DNA technology actually leaves victims unidentified, and it leaves perpetrators out there to commit more crimes. And that, to me, is a crime. Well, what is the wrong DNA technology? You know, a lot of people don't know right from wrong when it comes to DNA sequencing. I really feel that when you're working with forensic evidence, especially because every

time you run a reaction, you consume that evidence and potentially consume someone's last chance of being identified or being able to get justice. I think that when it comes to forensic evidence, you have to work with a lab that can do this entire process from beginning to end, that are experts in this field, and that have adopted their technology for forensics. You cannot work with a medical lab. You cannot work with a consumer lab. Their processes are built for a different purpose. Medical tests are built for fresh DNA. We swab, we have a renewable source, or we give blood. It's very different. Forensic DNA and medical DNA can't be the opposite. We have to have processes that are built for trace amounts of DNA,

DNA that's super contaminated, super degraded, DNA that has a slew of issues that you would never see in a medical lab. All of us here at Authram, most of us, I mean, I met David, the CEO, in a DNA repair lab 22 years ago. Most of us here in Authram are medical experts. We actually helped build a lot of this technology. We were part of the first human genome project, thousand human genome project. We actually worked with NIST on creating the standards that is used by the FDA today in order to deploy this technology in medicine. We understand it, but that technology was not suffice for forensic evidence. That's why we built AWESOME. We had to tailor it so that we could work with the type of

input that come in from forensic investigation. And thank heaven you did. Take a listen to Our Cut 7, Stephanie Bennett, Fox 10. It was a day of emotion and closure as law enforcement, DNA experts, and family finally shared the news with the public. I always hoped I would find her by doing DNA testing, you know, find that she was still alive. But at least we know now. Monsi-Hondrea is her niece. She was a very fiery little girl from what I understand and just loved to play.

I wish that my mother was still alive to share in the news. And at the same time, I know, you know, I truly believe that she has already been reunited with Sharon. Now, Odrea, who you just heard from, tells me they're hoping to do something to honor this little girl's life with the rest of the family. For now, like you said, no one has been charged with this murder. And they wanted to say a special thank you to the law enforcement and the community. They say this wouldn't have been possible with the community raising money to solve this case in the first place.

It is consolation that this little girl has been joined with her family in heaven. But now, the search for the killer. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.