LAKE CRESCENT — One of the secrets locked deep in the cold water of Lake Crescent for more than 75 years has been conclusively revealed.
Bones collected from the bottom of Lake Crescent last December were confirmed to be those of Russel Warren, 35, who with his wife, Blanch, 33, plunged into the lake in July 1929.
Olympic National Park announced Wednesday that DNA in the bones matched a DNA sample obtained from a niece of Russel Warren.
The FBI crime lab in Virginia conducted the testing.
“This is definitive,” said park spokeswoman Barb Maynes.
For family members who grew up without grandparents and for those who searched and scrounged for clues to the couple’s disappearance, the news that the remains of Russel Warren and probably Blanch’s are indeed resting on the bottom of the clear, mountain-fed lake provided some comfort.
Phoebe Bardin, 59, of Ferndale, Calif., said the news of her grandparents’ fate provided her with closure.
“It makes me feel good that where they were is where they should be,” she said during a telephone interview Wednesday.
Bardin said that she was grateful to the FBI for conducting the test and for the park and others for their tenacious investigation.
