Bone pieces match missing NM woman

Fragments discovered in Chiricahua Mountains

Bone fragments found in August in the Chiricahua Mountains in Cochise County have been identified as belonging to a New Mexico woman who has been missing since 2015, according to sheriff ’s officials.

The fragments matched the DNA of 44-year-old Lydia “Janet” Castrejon, who was reported missing on June 19, 2015, Cochise County sheriff ’s officials posted on Facebook.

At the time of the original report, Castrejon was reported missing while her family visited Rustler Park on a camping trip in the Chiricahua Mountains.

The family reported that Castrejon, who is disabled with poor eyesight, a traumatic brain injury and has diminished mental capacity, had walked with her mother during the morning hours to the bathrooms in the campground.

Castrejon stayed outside the bathrooms while her mother went inside for a few moments. When she returned, Castrejon was gone. The family told authorities she could not have walked far on her own, and they believed something happened to her.

Law enforcement teams and rescue crews searched the area for several days – and also during special missions in the months following her disappearance – without finding Castrejon.

However, on Aug. 5, 2018, U.S. Forest Service employees found bone fragments and a braid of hair which were sent to Pima County Medical Examiner for testing and then forwarded to the Center for Human Identification in Texas for additional evaluation.

Cochise County Sheriff’s Office was advised in September that the remains matched Castrejon’s DNA.