DEADWOOD, S.D. — Decades after a skeleton was found in rural Lawrence County, law enforcement officials are using forensic genealogy in the hopes of identifying the murdered man.
“His voice was silenced by his murder but now we have technology bearing witness for him,” John Fitzgerald, Lawrence County state’s attorney, said Monday, July 22. “The technology that’s being utilized today didn’t exist many years ago. This is something new.”
The man’s skeletal remains were clothed in a light striped jacket, Wrangler jeans and Spalding tennis shoes. They were discovered hidden beneath a couple of wooden packing crates near the Orman Dam about four miles north of St. Onge by trappers in February 2000. An autopsy determined the man died of multiple gunshots between 1997 and 1999, was 20- to 25-years-old, and between 5 feet, 7 inches and 5 feet, 9 inches tall, according to a news release from Fitzgerald.
Despite the man being killed at least 20 years ago and officials having released 3D images that reconstructed his face, the victim remains unidentified.
Now, law enforcement is using advanced DNA technology and genealogy websites in the hopes of identifying him through family members, like Rapid City Police did to identify the perpetrator of a 1968 rape and murder. The method was also used to find the alleged Golden State Killer, who’s charged with murdering 13 people in California in the 1970s and ’80s.
Local law enforcement is working with the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick — a forensic genealogist who helped with the Rapid City case — and Bode Technology, a Virginia-based forensic genealogy company, Fitzgerald said.
A new DNA sample was extracted from the victim’s bones about three months ago and was found to have about 51% European heritage and and 43% North and Central American heritage. His DNA has also been connected with second, third and fourth cousins using genealogical websites.
Fitzpatrick said officials are waiting to identify closer relatives before reaching out and asking if they have any missing relatives who fit his description. They then hope to track down his killer.
“It’s the closest we’ve been in 20 years” to solving the case, said a “very hopeful” Fitzpatrick.
Anyone with information about the man or his death should contact the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office at (605) 578-2230.
