Murder of Martha Morrison

Martha Marie Morrison (1956 – September 1974) was a 17-year-old American girl who was murdered in 1974, and whose remains went unidentified for over 40 years after their discovery.

[4] After Morrison's remains were identified, law enforcement encouraged the public to submit tips, as the murder was still unsolved.

[5] In August 2017, a bloodstain on a pistol owned by a longtime suspect, Warren Forrest, was matched to Morrison through DNA testing.

[6] Prior to Forrest's identification as a suspect, serial killers Ted Bundy and Randall Woodfield had both been considered a person of interest in Morrison and Valenzuela's murders.

[17] Forensic facial reconstructions were created of the victim from both frontal and profile views and released through a newspaper, but went unrecognized by the public.

[5] Ted Bundy was also listed as a person of interest in both Morrison's and Valenzuela's case prior to 2017, when Warren Leslie Forrest was identified as the prime suspect.

[19][20] Morrison, while a missing person, was ruled out as the possible identity of a female homicide victim, nicknamed “Orange Socks", who was estimated to have been between 15 and 30 when she was located in Texas in 1979.

[22] DNA was obtained from Martha Morrison's sister and half-brother which was used to develop a genetic profile to compare to potential matches.

[5][23] After previous unsuccessful testing, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children stated they would pay for an exhumation of the victim's father in order to retrieve DNA and compare it with the unidentified remains.

He was arrested on October 2, 1974 —  just ten days before the bodies of Martha Morrison and Carol Platt Valenzuela were found in Dole Valley.

[2] Law enforcement officials conducted DNA testing on a blood stain found on an air pistol owned by Forrest, which was previously believed to have belonged to a different woman — one of six others he had attacked during his years at large.