After more than four decades, they announced on Tuesday that the identity of a California man, discovered in the desert of northwest Arizona in 1982, has been finally established.
Mohave County Sheriff's officials confirmed that advanced DNA testing has revealed the man to be Virgil R. Renner, who had left his home in Humboldt County, California, in the early 1970s in search of gold in Nevada.
Renner, who had never married or had children, had lost both his siblings, a brother, and a sister, long ago. It remains a mystery as to how or why Renner ended up in Arizona.
His remains were found in September 1982 in a desert area near Kingman, with an autopsy estimating his death to have occurred between 1979 and 1981, at approximately 55 years old.
At the scene, they discovered a worn-out short-sleeve shirt, remnants of a leather belt, denim pants, an argyle sock, along with a plastic hair comb, a can opener, fingernail clippers, and a toothbrush.
Renner's identity remained a mystery and unclaimed at the Tucson medical examiner's office until 2020 when a special investigations unit brought the remains to Mohave County.
A DNA sample was sent to a genetic laboratory in Texas, which, through advanced testing, forensic-grade genome sequencing, and forensic genetic genealogy, succeeded in identifying Renner. Scientists developed a DNA profile of the remains and established Renner's identity by tracing it through his distant relatives.
Comments
Post a Comment