SAGINAW, MI — The Saginaw Police Department has partnered with an independent DNA laboratory in hopes of learning the name of a homicide victim whose identity has remained a mystery for more than 30 years.
Newly working with the department is Othram Inc., based in The Woodlands, Texas. Founded in 2018, Othram is self-described as “the world’s first private DNA laboratory built specifically to apply the power of modern parallel sequencing to forensic evidence.”
The case dates to October 1988, when police responded to a report of a body inside a house in the 400 block of Carroll Street. Officers arrived to find the body of a young Black man who had died a few hours prior from a shotgun wound to his face.
The slain man had brown eyes and black hair, with a slightly raised mohawk and fade on the sides. He stood 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed about 165 pounds, and is believed to have been 15 or 16 when he died, said Detective Sgt. Matthew Gerow.
The victim also had a very light mustache and was wearing a green and yellow T-shirt, black jeans, white Nike Air tennis shoes, and two gold chains. He bore some birthmarks on his abdomen and several keloid scars — overgrowths of scar tissue — on his knees and right shoulder.
The decedent matched no missing person cases in the area and no one has come forward with information related to his or the killer’s identity, police said. Gerow said there is reason to believe the decedent may have hailed from the Detroit area.
Investigators have revisited the case several times over the years, with artists from the Michigan State Police and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children having created multiple forensic images of the man.
Police now hope that with Othram, advanced DNA testing and forensic genealogy will provide them with the deceased man’s name, or lead them to a relative.
The company’s scientists work with the military, law enforcement, private investigators, historians, and academic researchers to extract the most value from human DNA samples when other investigative approaches have failed.
Anyone with information about the decedent is encouraged to contact the Saginaw Police Department at 989-759-1235. An online fundraising effort has been established to cover the costs of the testing for this case. Those interested in donating can do so at www.dnasolves.com/articles/saginaw_john_doe/
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