Linda Jean McClure confirmed as victim of fatal accident on Pennsylvania turnpike in 1987

eyewitness news (WBRE/WYOU) — Pennsylvania State Police say they have identified victims of a deadly crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, closing a 35-year-old incident.

Linda Jean McClure, 26, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, was a passenger in the tractor trailer that crashed on October 22, 1987 at Mile Marker 119.4 eastbound in Stony Creek Township, Somerset County, according to state police. was.

Police say McClure and her driver died in a fire after the trailer hit the fuel tank of another semi-trailer truck.

Investigators were able to identify the truck driver as a man from California, but despite repeated attempts to identify him, the passenger remained unknown.

In August 2022, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission agreed to pay for forensic genetic genealogy DNA testing. Forensic evidence was sent to Osram’s lab in Woodlands, Texas, where forensic scientists used forensic-grade genome sequencing to create a genealogical profile of the unknown woman.

PSP Troop T investigators continued their investigation and determined that the woman was McClure.

McClure’s family told investigators that they last had contact with her in the late 1980s and had not been reported missing to authorities.

Her brother submitted a DNA sample for comparison, confirming McClure as a crash victim.