DNA has revealed that person whose remains were found in the woods of Rockville in March 2013 were those of Carol Shapiro, a 43-year-old Manchester woman who disappeared almost six years earlier.
Shapiro disappeared on Aug. 31, 2007from her North Main Street apartment in Manchester and a local man searching for scrap metal stumbled upon her remains on March 13, 2013, police said.
The Connecticut Forensic Laboratory extracted a DNA profile from the remains months after the discovery and entered it into state and nationwid databases, but found no matches, police said. As Vernon police continued to investigate, Manchester police contacted them about the missing person's investigation from 2007 for Shapiro.
Police obtained her immediate family's DNA and sent it to the University of North Texas Health Science Center, which operates the Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice NamUs program, police said. DNA analysis confirmed the identity of the remains as Shapiro. Looking back into the 2007 investigation into Shapiro's disapearance, no new information was found on the case.
The chief medical examiner's office said the cause of Shapiro's death is undetermined and police said her death is considered untimely. Shapiro had a history or mental illness and there are no indications of foul play, police said.
"On behalf of the police department, we extend our condolences to Carol's family and they have requested their privacy during this time," Vernon police said in a news release.
Police then responded to the area of 126 West Street on land that once served as the Rockville landfill.
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At the time, residents in the area said they feared the remains could be one of three girls who disappeared in the 1960s and 1970s and were never found, but police determined that the remains were not those of Lisa White, Janice Pockett or Deborah Spickler.
Police said this case is closed and is not linked to the disappearance of White, Pockett or Spickler.
Retired state archeologist Nicholas Bellatoni, state police, the Tolland state's attorney's office and Quinnipiac University Professor Dr. Richard Gonzalez and Katelyn Norman also assisted with the investigation.
In September 2014, police released a sketch of the victim in the hopes that her family would recognize features. The remains are likely those of a white woman between 40 and 50 years old, but she could have been slightly older or younger, police said last year.
