Human remains identified as Texas teen who vanished in 2000 - New York Post

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced the identification of Sylvia Nicole Smith Monday and revealed that a homicide investigation has been launched.

The remains were sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, where an anthropology report was completed, and DNA was extracted.

In 2020, Texas Rangers, working with the Midland County District Attorney’s Office, sent the remains to DNA Labs International and, ultimately, to Parabon Nanolabs for advanced DNA analysis, which determined that the victim was black, and identified her hair and eye color.

Texas Rangers collected DNA samples from Smith’s family for analysis, and on June 9, the University of North Texas confirmed that the remains found in 2013 belonged to Smith.