It was more than two decades ago, when an Arizona man called sheriff’s deputies in Yavapai County, Arizona, to report a unique and disturbing discovery: While going through his childhood rock collection, He found a human jawbone that was mistaken for stone. ,
The county medical examiner’s office tried for years to find the owner of the misplaced piece of mandible, but their dna database No match was found. And then, earlier this week, something finally came to light when the Center for Investigational Genetic Genealogy at Ramapo College in New Jersey announced that it had confirmed the genetic match.
The bone belonged to deceased US Marine Corps Captain Everett Leland Yeager. There was no mystery about Yeager’s death; The Orange County Register, then named the Santa Ana Register, informed of That the 30-year-old Missourian crashed during flight training near El Toro Marine Air Station in Orange County in 1951 and died.
What was surprising was that part of Yager’s jaw did not end up in his grave with the rest of his remains.
“We have no idea how (the jawbone) came into the child’s collection,” said Paul Wick, public information officer for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department. “All the circumstances surrounding it (make this case unique).”
This photo of U.S. Marine Corps Captain Everett Leland Yager appeared in the Palmyra Spectator, a Missouri newspaper, on December 20, 1944.
(Palmyra Spectator)
In Ramapo College Press ReleaseThe investigation team speculated that a scavenger may have picked up a piece of her body and taken it across state lines from Southern California to Arizona.
This cold case is one of two that the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department has been able to close thanks to the free services of the Forensic Genealogy Laboratory at Ramapo College, which began a partnership with Yavapai County a year ago.
“It was a really exciting moment,” said Karen Binder, assistant director of the Center for Investigative Genetic Genealogy. According to Yavapai County officials, Yeager died on July 31, 1951, and now a discovery is bringing his story back to life 73 years later. “People were screaming across the room and running to each other’s computers to show each other their findings,” Binder said.
Last summer six students were taking an intensive workshop at the center, and together they came up with a clue that the bone was Yeager’s. One of the people who helped, Ethan Schwartz, was an intern in his sophomore year of high school. According to Ramapo College, he is now one of the youngest people to help solve a forensic genetic case.
After receiving a tip from the Ramapo team, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department collected DNA samples from Yeager’s daughter, which allowed Bode Technology in Lorton, Virginia to verify the bone fragment.
Yager’s family has declined to speak to the media, but Yavapai officials said the family is grateful that this piece of his body has finally been reunited with his remains 70 years after they were buried in his hometown of Palmyra, Mo. Has gone.
Schwartz, a sophomore at Suffern High School in nearby Rockland County, NY, said he was grateful to be able to contribute to a case that feels personal to his own family history.
“I have a deep connection to our armed forces,” Schwartz said. He told that his grandfather served in the Air Force and his elder uncle was a submarine commander in the Navy.
He is returning to Ramapo College this summer to continue his research into how ethnicity plays a role in the search for genetic matches, since most of the DNA samples in the file are from people with Western European heritage.
“Even if it’s not my college major, I’ll definitely be interested in it,” he said. “I’m really grateful for the experience I gained over the summer because I definitely want to continue it in the future.”
Although this multi-state saga may be at its end, David Gurney, director of the Center for Investigative Genetic Genealogy, said we can expect to see more cases like this solved in the future.
In the past, law enforcement agencies had to rely exclusively on the FBI-administered Joint DNA Index System, which collected genetic profiles of family members of missing persons and people who had committed crimes. But now, Gurney said, forensic laboratories have access to a wide range of genetic information through commercial genealogy databases such as Family Tree DNA and GEDmatch.
These databases are filled with people who have taken DNA testing for their own interests, said Gurney, an assistant professor of law and society at Ramapo College. After sifting through millions of profiles, investigators can often find distant relatives of the person they are trying to locate or identify.
Gurney, who founded the genealogy center with Binder in 2022, said, “This is the most revolutionary method of testing since the advent of DNA, because now any DNA sample can be identified with enough work and enough time dedicated to it. “
Karen Binder, right, and David Gurney, left, pose with students who have participated in their Center for Investigative Genetic Genealogy boot camp. He recently solved a cold case involving the jawbone of a Marine Corps Captain who died in 1951.
(Courtesy of Karen Binder)
The success of the center’s crash course in DNA matching has doubled enrollment this year, with 15 class spots filled and a growing waitlist. One does not need to have a degree in history or genetics to become a forensic genealogist.
But for the public, Binder said, there is a more practical way to help solve cold cases like Yeager’s: Donate your genetic information by taking a DNA test offered by a commercial genealogy database. people should be Be mindful of privacy when sharing your DNA with the government, But he believes some people are willing to accept personal risk for the broader good, Binder said.
“Your DNA could be the key piece that brings it home to us who are working on these (investigative) cases, solving violent crime cases, solving missing persons cases,” Binder said. ” “Every member of the public has a chance to make an impact by doing this.”
