Summary
In February 2022, the remains of an unidentified individual were found in a wooded area behind a business on Columbia Drive in Decatur, Georgia. It was determined that the remains were that of a black male who was 50 to 80 years old. At his time of death, the man stood 6' 3" tall and weighed 204 pounds. He had partially gray hair and brown eyes. It is believed that the man lived in or around the wooded area where he was found. No other identifying characteristics for the man were available and he became known as Dekalb County John Doe.
Since the discovery of the unknown man’s remains, investigators diligently pursued various leads about his identity. The man's fingerprints did not generate a match in AFIS, the Automated Fingerprint Identification system. Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP103162. To help visualize the man's appearance during his life, an artist rendering was created and released to the public in hopes that it would generate new leads about the man’s identity. Despite the exhaustive efforts of law enforcement, the man’s identity could not be determined.
In 2024, the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office once again teamed with Othram to leverage advanced DNA testing and genetic genealogy to develop investigative leads in hopes of identifying the man. Previously, the Dekalb County District Attorney's Office teamed with Othram to identify Rebecca Burke. Forensic evidence was submitted to Othram’s laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas where DNA was extracted and used to build a comprehensive DNA profile using Forensic Grade Genome Sequencing®. Othram genealogists used the profile in a forensic genetic genealogy search to provide new leads to law enforcement.
These new leads fueled a follow-up investigation, leading the Dekalb County Cold Case Task Force to potential relatives of the man in Georgia and Nevada. DNA profiles belonging to the relatives were compared to the John Doe's profile using KinSNP® rapid relationship testing, allowing investigators to name Dekalb County John Doe as 58-year-old Ernesto Eden.
A portion of Othram's casework costs associated with the advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy completed in this case was contributed by donors through a DNASolves® crowdfund. The remainder of Othram's casework costs was provided by NamUs, a national clearinghouse that assists the criminal justice community with the investigation and resolution of missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases across the United States and its territories. NamUs is funded and administered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and is managed through a contract with Research Triangle Institute International. We are grateful for the support of RTI, NamUs, and the NIJ as well as to those who helped crowdfund this case and other DNASolves cases.
Ernesto Eden's identification represents the 21st case in the State of Georgia where officials have publicly identified an individual using technology developed by Othram. To read about other cases in Georgia, visit DNASolves.
Michael Vogen
Director of Case Management
Michael works with law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Canada on “unsolvable“ cases that can benefit from advanced DNA testing methods. He helps these agencies use cutting edge DNA sequencing and new forensic techniques to develop investigative leads for their cases.