Martha Bassett found: Will County cold case solved after 56 years

Martha Bassett found: Will County cold case solved after 56 years

A cold case that lingered for more than half a century in Will County has been solved, according to the Will County Coroner?s Office.

WILL COUNTY, Ill. - A cold case that lingered for more than half a century in Will County has been solved, according to the Will County Coroner’s Office.

What we know:

Skeletal remains discovered in 1968 have been identified as Martha Bassett, a 33-year-old Native American woman originally from Wapato, Yakima County, Washington.

Bassett moved to Chicago in 1960. By 1967, she had lost contact with her family, prompting them to travel to the city in an effort to find her. Their search proved unsuccessful, and they returned home without answers.

Unfortunately, their exhaustive search was unsuccessful, and the family returned home without answers.

Officials used forensic science to identify Bassett's remains.

The backstory:

Bassett's remains were found in the brush near I-55 and Blodgett Road in unincorporated Will County on Sept. 30, 1968. At the time, police were unable to identify the murder victim's remains and they were buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Wilmington.

Bassett relocated to the Chicago area as part of the Indian Relocation Act of 1956, a federal initiative to encourage Indigenous people to move from reservations to urban centers. By 1967, Bassett had lost contact with her family, who traveled to Chicago to find her. They returned home without any answers.

Martha Bassett (Will County Coroner's Office)

Case Reopened:

The case was reopened in 2009 when Will County Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil established a cold case unit. The team, including retired Romeoville Investigator Eugene Sullian and the late Will County Sheriff's Investigator James Cardin, exhumed Bassett's remains from the cemetery. Experts at the University of North Texas and the Smithsonian Institute Paleontology Department determined that portions of the skeletal remains were of Native American descent.

In 2017, Dr. Cris Hughes and the University of Illinois Forensic Anthropology Department confirmed that the remains were of both Asian and Native American descent.

Current Cold Case Investigator William Sheehan and Investigator Joe Piper, both retired Lockport Police Detectives, reached out to the Native American tribes in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa asking about any missing person reports from the late 1960s that matched the description. A flyer was created and shared on social media and throughout Native communities. Emily Washines, of Washington, reached out as a distant relative of Bassett. A niece of Martha's was contacted and, with the help of some DNA, a match was found. 

On Sept. 13, 2024, more DNA was taken from the remains and sent to Othram Inc., a forensic genetic genealogy company in Woodlands, Texas. They provided a confirmed match.

Funding from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS) helped make all of this new data come to light.

What they're saying:

"Martha Bassett’s identity, lost to history for more than half a century, has been restored, allowing her family and community to honor her memory and finally lay her to rest," a statement by the Will County Coroner's Office said. "The case stands as a testament to what can be achieved when modern technology is applied with compassion and resolve—and it offers hope to the families of other missing persons that answers, though sometimes delayed, can still be found."