California skeleton doesn't match DNA of missing area woman

Skeletal remains found in California farm country appeared to match a former Kiski Valley woman last seen by her family 30 years ago.

The skeleton even had metal plates and screws in a leg, just as Nellie Flickinger did.

But DNA tests have concluded that the skeleton found in Colusa County, Calif., aren't Flickinger's remains.

Flickinger was born Nellie Florence Cornman. She was one eight Cornman children, two girls and six boys, who lived in the Shady Grove, Orchard Hill and Gravel Bar sections of Kiski Township.

She eventually settled in Erie and was last seen by her family in March 1979.

If Nellie Cornman Flickinger is alive, she would be about 58 years old.

"Unfortunately for the family, it isn't Nellie," said Colusa County Sheriff's Lt. Shane Maxey.

"This really disappointing," said Nellie's niece, Joni Lapeyrouse.

Authorities thought the remains could have been Flickinger's; they are of a woman of about the same size as Flickinger and with the same hair color.

In addition, a 1966 motorcycle wreck in Niles, Ohio, left Nellie with a steel plate in her right leg and lifelong limp. The California skeleton, found in a ditch in the heavily agricultural Colusa County, has the same type of plate.

Last year, some of Nellie's family gave DNA samples to compare with DNA from the remains.

The as-yet-unidentified woman's skeleton will be returned from the Texas lab that did the DNA testing. She will be reburied in California.

"Maybe now with her DNA, they can find out who she is," Lapeyrouse said. "For her family, I hope that happens.

"Like us, an Erie detective was shocked it wasn't her (Flickinger)," Lapeyrouse said.

Although there are no other leads, Lapeyrouse isn't deterred.

"I'm not giving up," she said.

The Cornman family DNA sample and description are being checked against the NamUS national missing person database.

Lapeyrouse is hopeful. However, she is surprised by the number of missing people and unidentified remains in the nation.

Many of them aren't yet registered with the NamUS or JaneDoe Web sites.

"It is truly astonishing to know there are thousands of bodies with no names — nobody missing them in this country," she said. "It's very sad."