The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office announced today that human remains found decades ago have been identified as those of a Trinity County woman reported missing in 1987.
According to a press release, Hyampom School teacher Kay Josephine Medin was reported missing by her husband Nickolas Medin on Aug. 3, 1987, after he said he returned home from a business trip to find her gone. Her purse and belongings were found at the residence and her disappearance was listed as “suspicious” by the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office, the release states.
A portion of her remains were found a few months later in eastern Humboldt County and identified using dental records after the HCSO received a package containing “skeletal remains and an anonymous letter” with information directing officials to the location. A death certificate was issued for Kay Medin in 1988 but “she remained listed as a missing person as there was not a complete body recovery,” according to HCSO.
Last year, a DNA sample from a partial human skull found on a beach near Trinidad Head in 1993 was sent to a private lab by the sheriff’s office and came back as a possible match to Kay Medin, which was later confirmed after officials were able to track down her daughter for a DNA comparison, the release states.
Nickolas Medin died in 2018.
According to the HCSO, the “case is still open and considered a cold homicide.” Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator Mike Fridley at (707) 441-3024.
This article appears in From Garden to Table in the Hall.
