Summary
In October 1984, the remains of an unidentified individual were located by hunters on the bank of the West Pearl River in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana near the Louisiana/Mississippi state line. An analysis performed by the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office's DNA Lab was completed in 2019 and uploaded to the national CODIS database but there was no match. At that time, an anthropological examination confirmed the subject was male, possibly of mixed race, and between the ages of 18 and 40 years at the time of his death.
In 2023, the LSU Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Laboratory a forensic sketch depicting how the man may have looked during his life was developed and released to the public. Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as #UP82978 with the "date body found" entered as the date that the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office requested an anthropological analysis. Despite investigators work to identify the decedent, his identity remains a decades old mystery.
In June 2023, Othram assisted the St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office in the identification of Mr. Joseph Lee Muniz, a homicide victim whose remains were discovered in 1993. Now, the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office has teamed with Othram to identify St. Tammany Parish John Doe (1984) using advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy. Anyone with information that could assist in this investigation is encouraged to contact the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office at 985-781-1150, referencing case number STPCO 2048-19.
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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.