[Update] Skeletal Parts Found in Two Places in Humboldt County Decades Ago Identified as Missing Trinity County Teacher

Photo of Kay Josephine Medin given to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department by Medin’s daughter.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that partial human remains found years apart in two distant locations–Trinidad and Ammon Ridge–within the county belong to Kay Josephine Medin, a teacher who disappeared from the Hyampom area of Trinity County in August 1987. The case remains an open homicide investigation.

The breakthrough identification on a piece of a skull found on a Trinidad Head beach was made through advanced DNA testing conducted by Othram, a forensic lab in Texas that specializes in solving cold cases using forensic-grade genome sequencing and genetic genealogy. Funding for the testing was provided in 2024 through federal support from U.S. Representative Jared Huffman to help clear a backlog of unidentified human remains cases in Humboldt County. Othram wrote about their work with HCSO today here.

The identification of Medin’s skull, found in 1993 near Trinidad Head in coastal Humboldt County, links back to a 1987 discovery of dismembered remains off Ammon Ridge near Friday Ridge Road—deep in a remote, forested region of eastern Humboldt County.

“There’s no reason for her to have been out there,” said Deputy Mike Fridley of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. Fridley, who formerly served as lieutenant before retiring and returning to help investigate cold cases, emphasized the strange circumstances. “No car was left behind. And we don’t know if she was killed and cut up—or if animals did that. But that’s a good place to drop a body.”

Fridley, speaking in an interview this morning, said the initial remains were discovered on November 25, 1987, after an anonymous typewritten letter was sent from San Francisco to the Sheriff’s Office. The letter, included with a package containing some human remains, gave directions to more of her skeleton near Ammon Ridge. Dental records confirmed the remains belonged to Kay Medin.

According to Othram, “Nickolas Medin, who died in 2018, reported to the Trinity County Sheriff’s office in that he had left on a business trip and when he returned home, Kay was gone. Kay’s purse and personal property were found at the residence. The Medin property was searched, and friends and family were contacted. Kay, who had no serious medical issues, was employed as a teacher at the Hyampom School. Kay’s boss was contacted and reported that she had been in good spirits. The Trinity County Sheriff’s Office listed Kay’s disappearance as suspicious.”

More than five years later, on February 16, 1993, a man walking near Trinidad Head discovered the top of a human skull, which was turned in to the Fortuna Police Department. Traditional DNA profiling at the time yielded no matches. The case remained cold for more than 30 years.

Fridley explained that Othram’s recent DNA work eventually led to the identification of a living relative of Medin, whose DNA sample confirmed the skull belonged to the missing teacher. The skull may have traveled from the Ammon Ridge area through a series of waterways: “The ocean moves things around,” Fridley said. He stated that it was possible an animal took it down to a creek to the Trinity River, which empties into the Klamath River, and finally to the ocean where the skull piece may have been carried to Trinidad Head.

Fridley noted that a significant portion of Medin’s remains are still unaccounted for. “A lot of her is still missing,” he said, adding that investigators maintain drawings showing which parts of her skeleton have been found. “Even when multiple body parts are found, we have to leave [the person] listed as missing. We might get another body part that is hers.”

This is the seventh case the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has solved using Othram’s forensic genealogy assistance and the 63rd such case publicly solved in California using the company’s technology.

But for Fridley, many unknowns linger. “There’s more questions than answers,” he said.

The case is still considered an open homicide. Anyone with information is urged to contact Deputy Mike Fridley at (707) 441-3024.

Update: 

Othram has released their own press release regarding the identification of the skull bone found in 1993 along with newspaper clippings around the time of Medin’s disappearance and when her remains were initially discovered on Ammon Ridge.

Read the press release from Othram here: After 32 years, Humboldt Jane Doe (1993) is Identified

Hyampom teacher sought by searchers Record Searchlight 8-4-1987

Trinity search called off – Record Searchlight 8-7-1987

Body identified of that of schoolteacher Record Searchlight 12-3-1987