Berkeley 21-year-old who went missing on Halloween in 1989 identified from remains in Placer County

By Daniel Macht

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    COLFAX, California (KCRA) — Human remains found more than three decades ago in Placer County have been identified as belonging to a Berkeley woman who disappeared on Halloween night.

Wendy Abrams-Nishikai, 21, was last seen in Berkeley on Oct. 31, 1989.

The human remains were found in 1990 in a rural area of Colfax, off an embankment on Yankee Jims Road. But the case ran cold and the remains were not identified as those of Abrams-Nishikai until recently.

Investigators from the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office reopened the case because of technological advancements. A California Justice Department lab in Richmond used DNA analysis to identify the woman’s kin in 2024.

“We actually had fingernails and that’s what they were able to use to pull DNA from,” Elise Soviar with the sheriff’s office said on Monday.

The cold case investigative team obtained DNA samples from Abrams-Nishikai’s family members to positively identify her in January.

February 10 marks 35 years since Wendy’s remains were found, and on this anniversary, a family is ready to grieve their long-lost loved one.

“There’s the closure that we thought we might never have. And for me, it may not sound like it here, but it’s like my first time in 35 years to be able to begin to grieve,” said Dale Abrams over a phone call with KCRA 3.

The sheriff’s office did not release information on how she died.

“This case isn’t solved yet,” Soviar said. “While we have identified Wendy and we hope that that brings closure to her family, we’d also like to figure out exactly what happened to her and if there is somebody responsible for that, which we believe that there is.”

As the case progresses, Wendy’s family plans to visit the place where their loved one is buried and honor her memory.

“It’s really amazing and sweet to be able to begin to remember her and begin to have those tears. They literally had no place back then. It just wasn’t in the vocabulary, and we can have a memorial now,” Dale said.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to contact PCSOTipLine@placer.ca.gov.

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