Kids find skeletal remains in Oregon. DNA testing identifies him 12 years later
An Oregon cold case was cracked after skeletal remains were identified and given to the man’s family, officials said.
Children playing in the woods discovered the man’s remains in Hood River County in 2009, the Oregon State Police said in a news release on April 5.
A suitcase filled with clothes and a bag of toiletries were found near the man’s remains, but nothing identifying the man was with his belongings.
The Oregon State Medical Examiner created a dental chart from the man’s teeth and sent them to the National Missing and Unidentified Person System. A bone sample was also submitted to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification in Fort Worth, but his DNA profile didn’t match a missing person or “family reference standards” in the FBI’s database.
In March 2021, his sample was sent to the Parabon lab. The report suggested he was a man reported missing in 2008 from the East Coast, troopers said.
The medical examiner’s office identified the man four months later after comparing his dental records to the ones from the skeletal remains.
But the family didn’t believe the man was their family member — and they asked for more evidence.
An oral swab was done on the man’s sibling for further testing and last month it revealed the man was their missing loved one.
His remains were returned to the family and sent to a funeral home in April. The man’s family has asked that his identity remain private.
“My colleagues and I are grateful for the opportunity to help identify this individual and assist in providing some resolution to his family,” Parabon Chief Genetic Genealogist CeCe Moore said. “As always, we are inspired by the tireless dedication of Dr. Nici Vance, her colleagues at OSP, and the Hood River detectives, who never gave up on this case.”
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