Genetic Genealogy Identifies Thelma Gaston 44 Years After Murder for $20 Million Estate
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 16
Genetic Genealogy Identifies Thelma Gaston 44 Years After Murder for $20 Million Estate
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 16
Summary
May 2026 testing confirmed that remains found in a shallow Riverside County grave in 1981 were Thelma Gaston, an 80-year-old real estate investor who vanished that June.
November 2024 exhumation and grant-funded forensic work led Othram to build a DNA profile, which investigators matched through genetic genealogy and dental records.
Lawrence Remsen, Gaston's sometime companion, had already been convicted of murdering her to seize control of her roughly $20 million estate and is serving life in prison.
The identification closes the last major unknown in a case long solved in court and highlights how modern forensic genealogy is resolving decades-old unidentified remains cases.