• Laura O’Malley was first reported missing from her New York home in 1975
• 20 years later, partial skeletal remains were found in a riverbed in California
• The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced on March 25 that the remains were identified as the missing girl, bringing some closure to her family

A family finally has some answers after a 13-year-old girl disappeared from her New York home 50 years ago.

Laura O’Malley, who was raised in Queens, was first reported missing in New York in August 1975, according to a press release posted by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook on Tuesday, March 25. Her family never heard from her again.

The teen girl’s remains were identified after they were discovered in a riverbed in Santa Cruz, Calif. in 1995, according to the sheriff’s office. The case was re-examined in 2019, leading to the 13-year-old girl’s identification with the help of Othram, a company that specializes in forensic DNA analysis.

The sheriff’s office noted that the circumstances surrounding O’Malley’s death are still under investigation. How O’Malley arrived in California is unknown.

While questions remain, authorities tell PEOPLE that her family is grateful for the closure.

“They have been incredibly supportive and thankful during this entire process and we’re incredibly grateful for that, too,” Ashley Keehn, a public information officer for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, tells PEOPLE. “Being able to bring them that small piece of closure that they might not have gotten otherwise if we didn’t re-look at this case.”

An article published in the New York Daily News in May 1978, reviewed by PEOPLE, reported that O’Malley had left her home because she didn’t get along with her stepfather. After her mother and stepfather separated, the family urged O’Malley to return home, according to the paper.

“Missing persons detectives concerned about the vulnerability of a young girl on her own in this city have pursued countless leads but have turned up no hard information about where she may be,” the article said. “Meanwhile Laura’s sisters continue to circulate her picture and appeal to all who knew her to carry on the search.”

When asked about the paper’s claims, Keehn said the reason for O’Malley’s disappearance and how she died is still under investigation.

“There are still some questions about [whether] she left on her own accord or if she was forced to leave, or if she was kidnapped and taken to California,” she adds. “So, that is something that’s still not known and under investigation.”

Twenty years after O’Malley first disappeared, unidentified partial skeletal remains were found in a riverbed off a highway, according to the sheriff’s office. Originally, investigators thought they’d discovered a “homestead burial,” Keehn notes.

“It was thought that a family member may have just buried a loved one a long, long time ago,” she says, “and that there wasn’t really any forensic testing that could be done at that time to determine an identity.” Eventually, the homestead theory was disproven.

For decades, the identity of the deceased person was unknown. In 2019, the case was revisited and carbon dating confirmed the person was born in the 1960s and died between 1977 and 1984, according to the sheriff’s office.

As authorities continued their investigation, the department eventually partnered with Othram to develop new leads. With this new information, officials — including volunteer genealogist Deborah Medina — were able to identify the missing girl.

“She put blood, sweat, and tears into this case,” shares Keehn, who says Medina is the one who “cracked the case.”

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“We’re hoping that by this case getting so much attention and bringing it to light that it might jog someone’s memory,” she says. “They might remember seeing her in California or before she left New York and give us a call.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office at 831-471-1121.