Amanda Zhou / The Seattle Times

Snohomish County officials have identified the remains of an anonymous male and female in two separate cases as a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and a woman who went missing from a cabin in 1981.

In one case, the human remains were discovered nearly 45 years ago and in the other case, the remains were discovered in 2009. In both cases, officials tried multiple times to successfully build a DNA profile and find a match.

Blaine Has Tricks

Blaine Has Tricks, a 38-year-old man from North Dakota, disappeared in 1977 after living in Spokane and was never reported missing. In September 1977, a bulldozer operator found human remains in a Marysville landfill and informed law-enforcement authorities, who determined the person had been dead for about two weeks.

Because of extensive post-mortem trauma caused by transport and bulldozing at the landfill, as well as the time that had passed since Has Tricks’ death, a coroner was unable to identify the cause of death. The unidentified remains were buried at a cemetery.

In 2008, with the emergence of new DNA technologies, detectives obtained a search warrant to exhume the body and perform DNA testing. After sending in bones for DNA testing and examining dental radiographs, officials failed in 2018, 2019 and 2020 to find a match or produce enough human DNA for testing.

In April 2021, Othram Inc. was able to develop a DNA profile from a section of femur (thighbone), which revealed the decedent was predominantly Native American. Using family history, newspaper archives and a DNA match at the great-niece level, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office and Native American genealogist Martha Coleman were able to identify the remains.

“The last…