More than 15 years has passed since Shari Dee Sampson Elwell's strangled and sexually mutilated body was found in a remote area of the Yakama reservation, but the family is still awaiting closure in the case.

Her homicide capped a decade-long string of more than a dozen mysterious deaths of women on the
1.2 million-acre reservation, which not only stymied authorities but instilled fear in this otherwise close-knit community.

Speculation of a serial killer targeting Indian women worried many, and two investigators revealed they saw links in some of the deaths. But other investigators said inconsistencies in the manner of deaths ruled out any serial killer.

"Nobody knew what was going on, and even today we don't know," said Yakama Tribal Council Vice Chairwoman Lavina Washines. "Nothing was ever resolved."

Now, nearly three years after the U.S. Justice Department promised to review all unsolved cases on the reservation, a number of the victims' families may see some closure.

A draft report probing 16 unsolved deaths -- all of them involving female victims -- will soon be released to all law-enforcement and other agencies involved by the middle of the month, said U.S. Attorney Jim McDevitt in Spokane.

Federal investigators began reopening the cases about two years ago. They decided to begin the cold case review with the string of women's deaths because they were under the most mysterious circumstances. Later, the probe may be broadened to other unsolved cases, McDevitt said.

A spokesman with the FBI said there may be as many as 32 unsolved cases on the reservation involving missing persons and deaths.

Various law enforcement agencies involved will have a chance to comment on the case once a final report is issued, he said.

The report comes after former U.S. Attorney General Roberto Gonzales during a visit here nearly three years ago promised to have investigators review all of the unsolved homicide and mysterious death cases on the reservation.

But tribal members who had for years lost their faith in law enforcement doubted his promise.

The FBI has jurisdiction on all serious crimes involving Native Americans on tribal lands, but tribal members have questioned whether the agency is fulfilling its commitment on the reservation.

Authorities planned to release the report by the first of the month, but it was delayed after a human skull and bones were recently found in a remote area of the reservation, McDevitt said.

Investigators are now trying to identify who the remains belong to and whether they tie into any of the unsolved cases, he said.

With an investigation pending, he said he couldn't give further specifics on the discovered remains.

McDevitt also wouldn't elaborate on what is in the report. "I don't want to jump the gun," he said.

While several of the deaths were obvious homicides, some may have been accidental deaths, investigators have said. They range from homicidal violence to exposure and drowning.

In a few of the cases, only human remains were found.

Time, exposure and wild animals led to the erosion of evidence in many of the cases, investigators said.

But investigators banked on new technology to help them reconstruct each death in hopes of determining what happened.

Any closure would help families, some who have gone more than two decades without any closure.

"It would be appreciated by all families of the Yakama Nation," Washines said.

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.

Below is a list of some of the cases in a decade-long string of mysterious deaths involving women.

* Sheila Pearl Lewis, 33, of Yakima.

Her battered body was found Aug. 3, 1980, near Parker Dam south of Union Gap. She died of massive internal injuries, possibly as a result of being hit by a car or truck.

* Lesora Yvette Eli, 19.

Her fully clothed body was found facedown in a drainage ditch along Parton Road near Toppenish on Feb. 2, 1982. The Yakima County Coroner's Office listed the cause of death as accidental drowning, but in a memo the FBI described it as a possible homicide.

* Celestine Spencer, 21, of Wapato.

Spencer went missing for about two weeks before her body was found Nov. 11, 1982, at the bottom of a gully in a field off McCullough Road along the north slope of Ahtanum Ridge.

* Clydell Alice Sampson, 25, of Klickitat.

Her skeletal remains were found by hunters Dec. 28, 1986, below Hambre Butte south of Granger. An autopsy determined she died of a shotgun blast to the head.

* Babette Crystall Greene, 26, of Toppenish.

A member of the Warm Springs tribe in Oregon, her skeletal remains were found during the summer of 1987 off North Track Road near Wapato. Coroner's records listed her death as "homicidal violence."

* Teresa R. Stahi, 25.

Her fully clothed body was pulled from a fish screen in a diversion canal off Toppenish Creek south of Granger on July 7, 1987. An autopsy determined that she had drowned. An FBI memo listed the case as a "mysterious death matter."

* Jenece Marie Wilson, 20, of Toppenish.

Her partially clothed body was found Aug. 8, 1987, in a remote area near Cherry Hill. She died of a severe blow to the head, and most of her clothes were strewn about the site.

* Skeletal remains of an unidentified Native American woman believed to be in her late 20s or early 30s were found Feb. 16, 1988, near Parker Dam. No cause of death has ever been determined, but the Yakima County Sheriff's Office considered it a homicide.

* Rozelia Lou (Tulee) Sohappy, 31, of Brownstown.

Her partially clothed body was found March 13, 1989, in a remote ravine along the south slope of Ahtanum Ridge north of Brownstown. She was identified through dental records, and an autopsy concluded she had been strangled.

* JoAnne Betty (Wyman) John, 44, of Wapato.

Her skull and bone fragments were found Feb. 2, 1991, near Mill Creek southwest of White Swan. She was identified through dental records. The mother of 11 children, she had been listed as missing since Aug. 1, 1988. Coroner's records list cause of death as "homicidal violence."

* Shari Dee Sampson Elwell, 30, of Wapato.

Her sexually mutilated body was found Dec. 30, 1992, by a group of hunters northwest of White Swan in the closed and remote area of the Yakama reservation. Autopsy reports indicate she had been strangled.