MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. -- At first, all Sgt. Paul Dostie had werehandfuls of bones -- fragile, gnawed-on human bones.
There was very little he could tell from the animal-ravagedremains found in a shallow grave in the Inyo National Forest in May2003. Dostie only knew the victim was a petite woman who wasn'tdressed for the rugged Sierra Nevada, judging by her lacy blouse andflimsy jacket.
It appeared to be the third murder this ski resort town had seenin a quarter-century. But bones don't talk, and the 20-year policeveteran realized that cracking this case would take more than old-fashioned detective work.
Over the next 3 1/2 years, Dostie combed the Internet forscientists who helped him extract information from the remains. Wonover by Dostie's dedication and aw-shucks good nature, theycontributed their expertise, often for free.
From the reports that trickled in, Dostie slowly compiled detailsof the victim's life story: where she was from, what she ate as achild, what she looked like, where she spent her last few months --everything but her name.
The search consumed him. He scoured scientific papers andattended conferences of forensic experts in search of newtechnologies.
"I probably know more about her and how she lived and died thananyone else out there," he said.
Dostie now believes he's weeks away from confirming the victim'sidentity. Only then will he be able to start the investigation he'swaited years to pursue: the search for her killer.
It began with a hiker walking his dog in the national forest.Something in the bushes grabbed the dog's interest. It was a humanskull.
Police searched for other remains, but found nothing until fewdays later, when a hunch led a sheriff's deputy up a nearby hill.
There, beneath the pines, Dostie was introduced to the victim whowould define his career. Her cheap watch was still ticking, thoughit had spent the winter under snow.
The case got off to a good start: An employee of the MammothLakes Visitor Center soon came forward, saying she remembered asmall woman who'd come in the previous fall. She had prominentcheekbones and straight black hair flowing past her shoulders.
While her male companion was getting camping information, thewoman told the employee in accented English that she was afraid ofhim -- a heavy-set white man with a mustache. The employee handedher a card from a local women's shelter, and the couple left.
The medical examiner had said the victim might be Asian, whichseemed to fit the employee's recollection. He asked about the coupleat local campgrounds, distributed fliers with the woman'sdescription, and placed ads in Asian-language newspapers as far awayas Los Angeles.
But it was a dead end. A year later, he was still empty-handed.
Dostie was casting about for new ideas in May 2004 when he heardabout a Florida company called DNAPrint Genomics that searches aperson's DNA for clues about their racial makeup. He sent a bonesample.
"It was 100 percent Native American," said Matt Thomas, thecompany's senior scientist. "I don't see that many samples that arethat clearly Native American."
The finding still left a range of possibilities -- native peopleswith similar genetic markers are found throughout the Americas. Butit gave Dostie something to work with.
"I took anthropology in college," he said. "I knew it was thekey."
He turned to the Internet and found Philip Walker, then presidentof the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
"Phil opened up a whole new world to me," he said. "His life'swork is looking at bones."
Walker researches patterns of violence in ancient cultures, andhe often puzzled over the same questions vexing Dostie: Who is thisperson? How did they die?
Walker recruited an orthopedic surgeon, a forensic pathologistand an anthropologist. Together, they gave Dostie a clearer pictureof the victim.
She'd been repeatedly stabbed -- a fact that escaped the medicalexaminer. She was likely a Native American from Mexico or CentralAmerica, between 30 and 35; and very small, no taller than 4-foot-9and no more than 90 pounds.
Scarring on her pelvis meant she'd delivered at least one child,and the poor state of her teeth told Walker she'd never seen adentist. The bones and muscles in her shoulders pointed to a life ofhard physical labor.
"This is clearly a disenfranchised person who was vulnerable,"said Walker, explaining his motivation to work on the case for free.
Walker wanted to know more about her diet and the water she drank-- clues to her ethnic background and geographical origin.
They turned to Henry Schwarcz, a geologist who analyzes thechemical composition of ancient human remains. Remains that werepuzzling to Dostie spoke clearly to the Canadian professor.
"In her childhood, she had been living mostly on corn --cornmeal, tortillas, up to a level that would be almostnutritionally unhealthy," Schwarcz said.
He looked for oxygen atoms in her teeth. These are absorbed fromthe water a person drinks as a child, and since most drinking watercomes from local rain, they can be a good indicator of a person'sorigin. She seemed to have been raised in southern Mexico, or evenfarther south.
Schwarcz also looked at her bones and hair -- cells thatregenerate over the years, incorporating new information throughouta person's life.
These told a different story: In the last 18 months of her life,the woman's protein intake was like that of a typical NorthAmerican. There was variation in the oxygen isotopes, suggestingshe'd moved around a lot.
Walker also recommended a look at the woman's mitochondrial DNA,genetic material that only holds information about a person'smaternal line. The sequence was sent for comparison to twoscientists who manage databanks mitochondrial DNA. One confirmed shecould be from southern Mexico.
The other had a hit.
Among 3,000 specimens in his databank at the University ofCalifornia, Davis, David Glenn Smith found a maternal relative ofthe victim: a Zapotec Indian living in the southern Mexican state ofOaxaca.
The only problem was that Dostie had never heard of Oaxaca anddidn't speak Spanish, much less Zapotec.
He went back to the Internet.
"I'm not that smart myself," he said, "but I can find a lot ofpeople who are."
A UCLA linguist connected him to a Oaxacan graduate student, whointroduced Dostie to the man who would guide him through the nextphase of the investigation.
Ray Morales, president of the Oaxacan Business Association, wasthe perfect link. He spoke English, Spanish and Zapotec, and ran abusiness that delivered cash from immigrants in California to theirfamilies in Oaxaca.
Morales was impressed by Dostie's perseverance.
"This is a guy who doesn't know Oaxaca, who doesn't speak thelanguage, taking a case he could have easily filed away," Moralessaid.
In May 2006 Morales went to Oaxaca.
"Oaxaca can feel pretty small, the communities are pretty tightknit," said Morales. "I thought it would be pretty easy."
He spread word of the missing woman through the local media. Hecarried fliers with her picture and made a big splash.
Morales found the DNA donor but was surprised when the womanclaimed she didn't know the victim. And no one in the woman'svillage seemed to know of a missing woman who matched thedescription.
By now, Morales felt a sense of responsibility -- to the woman,who seemed to have no one else, and to the detective who had broughtthe case this far.
"Why is science pointing to this town, but no one is filing amissing person report?" he asked.
Morales went back to Oaxaca.
This time, he went quietly. He spent time in the village and gotto know the residents. Slowly weaving together rumors andimplications, he formed a picture of a woman who might be theirvictim.
Her mother died when she was young and she'd left the village fora nearby town. She'd returned about 10 years ago, then made ascandalous exit to the United States with help from a married man inSouthern California.
Certain he was onto something, Morales collected DNA from anuncle and a half brother. But the results were inconclusive.
He needed DNA from a maternal relative. The woman's sister livedin another part of Mexico, and one of the victim's own children wassaid to be living in another Oaxacan village. Morales plannedanother trip.
Then violence erupted in Oaxaca. A teachers' strike evolved intomass protests involving leftists, Indian groups and students allcalling for the governor's resignation.
He waited out the unrest, which lasted six months. He now has aticket to return on Dec. 20. Dostie is excited at the prospect, buthe's also patient.
"We've been in this over three years, just trying to get to dayone -- to the day we can start figuring out who knew the victim, whocould have killed her," he said. "We'll get there."
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