VA VA - Bonnie Houston, 32, Norfolk, 1 August 1986

When a couple stopped on a county road in Georgia to watch a beaver in a swamp, they discovered a gym bag nearby. Inside that large dark-blue duffel, deputies found human skeletal remains.

That was March 20, 1988. More than two decades later, investigators have now connected the body with a possible murder in Norfolk, Virginia. Bonnie Marie Houston, born in 1954, was killed in 1986 and authorities said they believe she was then hidden near the swamp on County Road 190 by State Highway 77 in Oglethorpe County, Georgia...

As the investigation developed, agents said Tuesday the evidence they had strongly suggested Houston was murdered in Norfolk and then driven more than 520 miles south to that swamp. GBI said in a news release the primary focus of the case has now moved to Norfolk as they continue to look into the death of the local woman.

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The mystery of an unidentified skeleton found in a remote section of Oglethorpe County 26 years ago was resolved recently when a DNA analysis identified the remains as those of a Virginia woman...

The remains were in a canvas gym bag and the woman’s wrists had been bound by a nylon cord, according to the GBI. The cause of death could not be determined...

She was a graduate of Norfolk State College and a mother to two children, according to a funeral home notice in Pennsylvania, where she was born.

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The mystery of an unidentified skeleton found in a remote section of Oglethorpe County 26 years ago was solved recently when DNA analysis identified the remains as those of a Virginia woman. The remains were identified as Bonnie Marie Houston, a 32-year-old woman who was reported missing on Aug. 1, 1986, in Norfolk, Va., the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday...

The case broke recently when police with the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia contacted the GBI in regards to leads they had and asked for a DNA profile of the remains, according to GBI Agent Jesse Maddox. The State Crime Lab made a positive match using the DNA...

Investigators believe Houston was murdered in Norfolk in 1986 and her body transported to Georgia, he said. She was a graduate of Norfolk State College and a mother to two children, according to a funeral home notice in Pennsylvania, where she was born.

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“The very first time we ever heard the name Bonnie Houston was in February 2014,” Norfolk Police Department Public Information Officer Daniel Hudson said Tuesday...

The Houston family member gave a reason for not reporting the disappearance sooner, but Hudson declined to release that reason.

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Bonnie Marie Houston, a gentle and athletic young mother, disappeared from Norfolk in 1986.

She had wanted to be a gym teacher but never finished school at what was then Norfolk State College. Instead, she coached at the YWCA, said her younger brother, Victor Houston, by phone from Maryland this week...

He wouldn't discuss possible suspicions about her killer. "At this point, we can't talk about it at all," he said. "I'm just hoping that something comes out of this... Like I said, I would love to know."

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