Exhumed body in Westmoreland County identified as Pittsburgh teen

GREENSBURG, Pa. — State police announced Thursday that a body exhumed from a pauper’s grave in Westmoreland County last fall has been identified as a Homewood teen, nearly 49 years after she went missing.

Theala Thompson was 13 years old when she disappeared in September 1967.

Later that month, a man found the body of a girl in a Salem Township landfill. The decomposed body could not be identified at the time.

Theala's family came forward when the body was exhumed in Hempfield Township last October, hoping that DNA testing would prove it was her.

The University of North Texas tested the DNA from the remains against DNA collected from Theala’s sister, Mary Thompson.

"It was something haunting us for a long time, and when I finally got confirmation that she was my sister, to be honest, it just lifted something in me,” Thompson said.

The identification comes just one week shy of retirement for the lead investigator, Trooper Brian Gross. It’s something that he says brings him mixed emotions.

"You have to deliver a message to a family that their loved one has been identified and deceased, but on the other hand, for 48 years, nobody knew who this young girl was and now we know,” he said.

The case is now the oldest in the state in which DNA technology was used to positively match an unidentified victim.

State police are investigating Thompson’s death as a homicide.

"This has been a long unsolved mystery over the years. My mother was grief stricken over this,” Pamela Thompson, Theala’s sister, said.

Pamela Thompson was the family's youngest child. She was born after Teala disappeared, but she said it didn't take long to learn the toll her disappearance had on her late mother.

"The one time she lashed out on me because I said I want to go the store to get candy, and I said the exact same thing Teala said when the last time I saw her,” Pamela said.

Both of Thompson’s parents died not knowing what happened to Teala.

"I think whoever was involved with this crime, they had to answer to God already,” Pamela Thompson said.

Cox Media Group