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Missouri teen ID'ed as body in 40-year-old Arizona cold case

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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Nearly 40 years after a body of a girl was found on Valentine's Day off a northern Arizona highway, she has been confirmed by police to be a teenage runaway from St. Louis.

Coconino County Sheriff Jim Driscoll announced Monday that DNA confirms the victim is 17-year-old Carolyn Eaton.

The decades-old cold case began when an Arizona state trooper spotted her body on Feb. 14, 1982 off Interstate 40 just west of Williams.

Because of the day she was found, the unidentified girl was dubbed "Valentine Sally" by authorities.

Investigators recently hired a private company to process DNA from the body for entry into online databases.