Bones identified as mom last seen in 2019 but never reported missing, NC cops say

Human bones found by a hunter in 2019 have been identified six years later as the remains of a woman who had never been reported as missing, North Carolina investigators say.

Maria del Socorro Medina Trejo was 43, a single mother, and lived not far from where her skeleton was found in the Winston-Salem area, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

Her identity was revealed with the help of DNA testing by the non-profit DNA Doe Project. The cause of Trejo’s death remains a mystery, the sheriff’s office said at a news conference posted Dec. 31 on Facebook.

“On September 10, 2019, a hunter discovered a portion of a human skull in a wooded area behind an RV dealership in Rural Hall, North Carolina,” the DNA Doe Project said in a news release.

“A search of the area led to the recovery of additional bones believed to be from the same person, a woman aged between 33 and 46 years old. There was no indication of trauma to the bones, and a cause of death was unable to be determined. The bones were examined by a forensic anthropologist who estimated they had been in the woods for approximately seven months.”

Detectives consulted the DNA Doe Project for assistance in 2022, leading to a discovery of several distant cousins, and an ancestry traced to the town of Zimapán in Hidalgo, Mexico. That also meant it was highly likely the woman had relatives with the surnames Trejo and Chávez, DNA Doe Project officials determined.

“These discoveries allowed the team to home in on people who could be related ... They contacted someone who initially didn’t know of any missing people in his family; a few months later, he was at a family function when he learned about a distant relative who had gone missing,” project officials said.

“This relative was Maria del Socorro Medina Trejo, who was born in Zimapán in 1976. She later immigrated to the United States and settled in Winston-Salem, just a short distance from where her remains would later be discovered. One of Medina’s children went on to take a DNA test and, after she uploaded her DNA data to GEDmatch, a direct comparison confirmed that she was the daughter of the woman.”

Details of why Trejo’s family never reported her missing were not released, and investigators declined to say if Trejo still has relatives in North Carolina.

Her death is being handled as a homicide investigation until a cause is determined, Forsyth County detectives said at a news conference.

“This is only the first step in bringing justice to the family, and the FCSO will continue to examine this case until all possible leads have been thoroughly investigated and it can be officially closed,” the sheriff’s office said.

Rural Hall, where the remains were found, is about a 90-mile drive northeast from Charlotte.

This story was originally published December 31, 2025 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Bones identified as mom last seen in 2019 but never reported missing, NC cops say."