There were no updates in the case until 2019 when cold case detectives asked a forensic biology unit to examine several items of evidence from the scene, including Momohara's underwear

Before Dawn Momohara was killed, she got a call from an unknown male and told her mother she was going to a shopping center. That was the last time her mom saw her, police said.

The unsolved death of a teenager in 1977 haunted students and staff at Honolulu's McKinley High School for nearly half a century