He was buried in an unmarked grave in Minneapolis in 1997 as an unidentified male whose name and story seemed like they might forever be a mystery. Today, his preserved DNA samples are stored with ceremonial tobacco, a gesture of respect that aligns with what advances in forensic science have now revealed. He was not an “East Asian” male as investigators believed, but an Indigenous relative with potential connections to Arizona and northern California. 

Today, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office is hoping new technology, a new investigation and new partnerships might make the difference to help bring him home.

His story begins in September 1996 when a passerby walking their dog noticed a body in the Mississippi River just north of the First Avenue Bridge. Fingerprints, dental records and missing person’s report searches all came back with no hits. 

The Medical Examiner’s office conducted a full autopsy. He was an adult male, estimated to be 35 to 45 years old, though that estimate has now been expanded to 28 to 50 years old. He stood around 5’9”, weighed 192 pounds and had short black hair with grey stubble on his chin and upper lip. His right front tooth was chipped. He wore Reeboks, size 10.5 and a Rumors-brand wristwatch with a black plastic strap and a silver metal face.

Investigators used all methods available to them in 1996, said Dr. Jessica Campbell, a board-certified forensic anthropologist with the Medical Examiner’s Office. That included a review by an anthropologist who labeled him broadly as “East Asian,” a limitation of the forensic methods at the time. With no active leads on his case and no national missing person resources like the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) to leverage, his case transitioned to a roster of long-term unidentified.

“For years, outdated ideas of race meant that Indigenous people were misidentified or never identified at all,” said Guadalupe Lopez, director of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Office. “They mask the epidemic of violence we call MMIR, and more importantly they delay justice and healing for families who have been waiting for answers. Every correction we can make today restores visibility to relatives who may have been overlooked in the past.” 

Since the 1990s, DNA evaluation and other technology has changed dramatically. The methods once used to categorize the unidentified are now understood to have been shaped by assumptions, limited data and outdated, racialized classification systems. Thanks to a federal grant from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Administration, Dr. Campbell is on a mission to re-examine the long-term unidentified to see if modern technology can help find answers in cases that have otherwise gone cold.

Dr. Campbell describes genetic genealogy, the newest forensic tool available to identify persons as a marriage between forensic science and genealogical research. With help from partners like Othram Labs in Texas, they can create a profile of an individual that maps over a half million distinct genetic markers on a strand of DNA. For comparison, traditional DNA testing available in the 1990s looked at 20 to 24 markers and was only able to detect a first-degree genetic relationship, like that of a parent or sibling. Today’s forensic-grade genome sequencing can detect out to a seventh cousin.

“We’re all related, it’s just a matter of to what degree,” said Michael Vogen, a director with Othram Labs. 

As Vogen explained, today’s technology can generate a more accurate picture of an individual’s bio-ethnicity, something previous assessments frequently got wrong. That, along with other genetic markers, help narrow down possible family associations for investigators.

What they need next doesn’t come from a lab. Genealogists do some old-fashioned detective work, working backwards from potential genetic matches found in a public law enforcement-enabled database. They create a snapshot of possible familial relationships and then need to verify those relationships with further testing. 

“We want everyone to understand how this all works because it is only with the public’s help that we are going to identify these individuals,” said Dr. Campbell.

A new genetic profile of the man’s DNA and came up with possible leads in Arizona and northern California. 

They located and tested the individuals identified in Arizona. They were not a match.

Science carried the investigation this far and Dr. Campbell hopes someone in California may hold the last clues that will finally return this man home and reunite him with his name and his story. 

Learn more about the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's case. 

If you have information, contact one of these agencies: 

• Hennepin County Medical Examiner: 612-215-6300
• Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office: 651-201-7344
• AZ Honwungsi Missing Persons and Trafficking Recovery Program: Brandon Nahsonhoya, 480-930-9115

Explore more of Minnesota's MMIR cases.