Indigenous women hopeful after a woman who disappeared in 1983 is identified through DNA evidence
PHOENIX - Lori Long Chase went missing in July 1983 when she was just 17 years old.
Phoenix Police investigated the case thoroughly, but it took over 40 years for her family to get answers.
Memory Dawn Long Chase says if there is one thing she could say to her sister Lori, it's this, "I never forgot you."
And because she never forgot and never stopped searching for answers, she's now able to lay her beloved older sister to rest.
"I remember that I loved her," Memory said.
Although she was only five years old when her sister Lori went missing in 1983, she has many fond memories of her, including the time her older sister bought her a Snow White and the Seven Dwarves book with the money from her first job.
"It had the original storyboards and the original concept drawings and the original character drawings and just the whole process and I loved it," she said. "I would take it to her and my mom all the time to read it and well, that’s why they taught me how to read."
What happened to Lori?
Lori went missing in the summer of 1983, just after she had a baby, who died when he was just four days old.
Later that summer, the body of a young female was found in an irrigation ditch in the East Valley, and was determined to be a homicide victim, but since Lori had been adopted, there was no DNA evidence to connect the body to her.
Memory says she ramped up the search for answers in 2021, after a niece told her to look at a composite of the Jane Doe found in the ditch.
"And that page two composite drawing is identical to the last picture that I have of her even down to the feathered hair, that was very popular in the 80s. When I called the detective, you know they had no idea who this body was, I said, 'I think that’s my sister," said Memory.
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In order to find a DNA match for Lori, detectives had one lead: the son Lori had lost before her death.
"They had to exhume the baby’s body and test those remains, and these are 40-year-old remains, right?" she said.
Memory says the department had to apply for funding to carry out the testing, but eventually, the remains were determined to be a match just last month.
"After 41 years, science was able to give her her name back, and so I guess I have every reason to hope that science can bring her justice too," she said.
Troubling lack of answers for growing list of missing Indigenous women
Memory says that justice is not found nearly enough when Indigenous women go missing or are murdered.
"This is a very real issue and I want to share Lori’s story so we can bring this to everybody. People need to know that this is happening, that we are dying and people should care," Memory says.
Memory has dedicated her life to advocating for Indigenous women, and says her line of work is no coincidence.
She is planning a memorial for both Lori and her infant son Oct. 5 at a Catholic Church in Laveen.
If you have any information about Lori Long Chase's death or the disappearance or death of other Indigenous people in Phoenix, call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.