Summary
In August 2020, the fully clothed skeletal remains of an unknown man were discovered by a utility maintenance worker in a wooded area behind Holmes Avenue in Hinds County. The man was found lying face down and was dressed in khaki trousers, white Jordan athletic shoes, and dark colored coat/jacket. Sharon Grisham-Stewart, Hinds Co. Coroner, referred the case to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Pearl for a postmortem examination, anthropological and odonatological evaluations, and scientific identification. All conventional identification approaches including Short Tandem Repeat (STR) DNA testing at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI) were unsuccessful in producing leads to the man’s identity. The case was logged in NamUs as UP73698.
With all leads exhausted, The Mississippi State Crime Lab partnered with Othram to generate a comprehensive genealogical profile for the unknown man, in hopes that it would help identify him or a close family member. Othram received skeletal remains from the case and used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive genealogical profile. This profile was used to search for distant relatives. In the course of genealogical research, candidate family members came forward and provided reference DNA samples for comparison. Othram used KinSNP™ rapid familial testing to evaluate the relationship between the candidate family members and the unknown man. In September 2021, following the completion of DNA testing and a follow up investigation, the Mississippi State Crime lab confirmed that unknown man was Anderson Bolls of Jackson, MS. In fact, Mr. Bolls had been listed as a missing person on the website MissingSippi.org since early 2020.
We would like to thank Carla Davis, a genealogist and Mississippi native, for fully funding the analyses required to obtain this positive identification. Carla supported several Othram cases and we are truly grateful.
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.