Remains of woman found in NC that no one knew was missing identified after 33 years: Lisa Kesler

ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- The identity of a Georgia woman who was murdered 33 years ago has been released.

The Orange County Sherriff's Office announced Wednesday that they identified the remains of a woman found killed in 1990 as 20-year-old Lisa Coburn Kesler of Georgia.

Kesler's body was discovered along I-40 East near the New Hope Church Road exit.

Investigators spent years trying to identify the woman using software to reconstruct what she may have looked like. In 2018, they released a digital illustration of Kesler.

"Throughout the decades, some of our finest investigators kept plugging away. When you can't close a case, it gets under your skin. You might set the file aside for a while, but you keep coming back to it, looking to see something you didn't notice before, or hoping information gathered in ensuing cases has relevance to your cold case. Investigators also monitor new techniques and technologies in the field, which is what eventually led to the breakthrough in Ms. Kesler's case," Sheriff Blackwood said in a release.

Investigators believe Kesler was strangled by her killer and then her body was dumped.

According to the Sheriff's Office, her family did not know she was missing.

Kesler's case is not closed. Officials are hoping to find her killer through DNA.