Wendy Abrams-Nishikai was 21-year-old UC Berkeley student when she went missing on Halloween 1989. Human remains discovered more than three decades ago have been identified as a missing UC Berkeley student who vanished on Halloween night in 1989, authorities announced this week. Wendy Abrams-Nishikai was 21 years old and a mother of a young daughter when she went missing in Berkeley, California. Then in 2023, officials formed a Cold Case Investigations team – with a focus on utilizing advancements in technology and forensic genealogy – and investigators from the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and the Placer County District Attorney's Office reopened the case.
![[Human remains discovered over 30 years ago have been identified as missing UC Berkeley student Wendy Abrams-Nishikai]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/11/22/44/Wendy-Abrams-Nishikai.jpeg)
Within the year, they had a breakthrough. The California Department of Justice Laboratory in Richmond, California used DNA analysis to identify a likely next of kin, which linked the human remains to a relative of a woman who had been reported missing in Berkeley back in 1989. After obtaining additional DNA samples from family members for further comparison, in January 2025, the remains were officially identified as Abrams-Nishikai.
Some of these sleuths have claimed they contacted Berkeley police and told them that a Jane Doe and Abrams-Nishikai both had a cross tattoo on their chest. No additional details were released and investigators say the case is still under investigation. “While her death is still under investigation and the case is ongoing, we hope this identification provides some closure to her surviving family members after 35 years of uncertainty,” the sheriff’s office said.
