BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — A local cold case is heating up thanks to new technology related to DNA.
This week, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office identified a woman who was found dead in a yard waste bin in a vacant lot nearly seven years ago as Linda Lee Schock. Schock’s skeletal remains were discovered by an excavator clearing out a dilapidated trailer in 2019.
Since her body was found, the case went cold. The crime scene is long gone and a new house was constructed over it, but neighbors never stopped wondering about what happened there.
“All sorts of people digging out in the yard, and caution tape all around,” said Ladele Walker, whose home was just feet from the edge of the crime scene.
It was a day Walker will never forget. Chopper 7 circled the skies above her home and investigators dug up the ground next door.
“My phone was ringing from friends saying, ‘Did you know your house is on the news?’” she said.
It was August 2019, and Shock’s remains had just been found, wrapped in a blanket and duct tape. For years, no one knew who she was.
But that all changed this week.
“Oh my gosh,” Walker said when shown an image of Schock. “She’s pretty.”
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office told KIRO 7 Linda Lee Schock was born in 1966 and lived in the area. According to investigators, her family never reported her missing because they assumed she left the state.
Her true fate is now known, thanks to forensic genetic genealogy work by Othram, a biotechnology company based in Houston.
Colby Lasyone, the company’s chief of staff, told KIRO 7 thanks to the identification, deputies can now focus on what happened to her instead of who she was.
“In this particular case, this woman was murdered and there’s a person responsible for that,” Lasyone said. “Every case is different, but it’s not straightforward to solve a murder investigation if you don’t know the victim’s name, because how can you understand their last days, the people with whom they interacted?”
Forensic genetic genealogy is more advanced than the typical DNA analysis seen in movies and TV shows.
Typically, around 20 DNA markers are tracked, then run against a database mostly made up of people who have previously been arrested.
Othram tracks hundreds of thousands of markers instead. The goal is finding a distant relative, then investigating to build a family tree.
“Essentially, when you start to build these family trees, there are gaps,” Lasyone said. “You start to close those gaps using records research, talking to people, doing interviews, et cetera.”
Othram said more than 600 John and Jane Does have been publicly identified because of its work, 46 of which were in Washington.
The same tech Othram used to identify Schock also helped catch Idaho quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger. Othram analyzed trace DNA found on a knife sheath at the scene, which led investigators to him.
Neighbors are hopeful this tech can finally close the Lake Tapps case, just like it did in Idaho.
“Somebody needs to pay for what happened,” Walker said. “To be disposed of like garbage is so sad.”
PCSO said Schock was identified in 2025, then made public this week in hopes of drumming up tips.
A spokesperson said this is an active, unsolved homicide. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.