Case History
The victim was discovered in a shallow grave with human remains scattered around the area, by a hiker walking his dog above the Shady Rest campground in The Mammoth Lakes National Forest, on May 25, 2003.
Mammoth Lakes is an outdoor resort community located on the eastern border of California in the High Sierra mountains.
Scientists estimate that this woman had been hastily buried sometime in late summer, or fall of 2002.
Scientists have used an innovative technique never before used in crime fighting. The technique traces the woman's movement by identifying the origins of the water she drank throughout her life.
Combining exhaustive and innovative DNA testing, with the above mentioned method of identifying the source of the victim's drinking water as recorded in unique isotopic signatures found in her bones, hair and teeth, has helped investigators to narrow and to trace her life. She was probably born and raised through childhood in the American Southwest or in Northern Mexico. She subsisted on a very poor diet, including a great deal of corn, or maize, the water she drank was consistent with the isotopic signature of the water in the American Southwest or northern Mexico, or even in Los Angeles. Sometime later she moved south to southern Mexico, possibly Oaxaca, where she spent about 10 years of her life. Finally, the last two years of her life the victim traveled to California where she was killed.
A few days after the skeleton was found, a witness was located that remembered an incident that occurred in the fall of 2002, when a very short Asian looking female came into the Mammoth Lakes Visitor Center with her husband. The woman told an employee that her husband treated her badly and she was fearful of him. The witness gave the woman a Wild Iris Domestic Violence services card. The husband asked about campsite rules and stay limits. The employee described the woman’s husband as “abrasive” and “mean spirited”. The husband is described as a white male, heavyset, 5'9" tall, heavy-set, about 175 to 200 pounds, with brown hair and a bushy moustache.
mtDNA was done and it was found that she was a Zapotec Indian from Oaxaca, Mexico. It even narrowed it down to the specific village. Authorites have made 2 expeditions to that village and came up with a possible name. They are obtaining DNA from relatives to make sure.
Authorities believe they have her name, Barbara Pacheco Santiago. They are going to Oaxaca late in December 2006 to attempt to locate relatives to get DNA.

Victims's shoe, bracelet and earring.

Drawings of Suspect

Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
Mammoth Lakes Police Department
Sergeant/Investigator Paul Dostie
760-934-2001
or
FBI - ViCAP Unit
Crime Analyst Ken Whitla
1-800-634-4097
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number:
030929 (MLPD)
2004CA20 (FBI)

NCIC Number:
U-180004493
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
Mammoth Lakes Police Department
National Center for Missing Adults
ABC News
FBI
Daily Democrat
Ventura County Star 11/19/06