CA CA - Orange Co., WhtMale Skeletal 190UMCA, 15-19, in Trabuco Canyon, Dec'96

[Bit of hope]

He could be from anywhere in Latin America but I go for Argentina or Brazil.

 

[doggybag2355]

There’s too low of a threshold of genetic match.

That just puts it at a waiting game at this point until more results come in.

 

[doggybag2355]

I'm sorry this sounds like they haltered the investigation on purpose, but it states that they hit a brick wall because there is not much DNA submitted from the part of the world he is probably from.

It's really nobody's fault, if there's no results, there's no results. Due to the information they've found of him most likely being from Latin America, it's possible he was an undocumented immigrant who left his family to come to the US, or he could've been a 'coyote' who leads other undocumented immigrants to the states. His family may not even know he's deceased.

 

[Bit of hope]

It's really nobody's fault, if there's no results, there's no results. Due to the information they've found of him most likely being from Latin America, it's possible he was an undocumented immigrant who left his family to come to the US, or he could've been a 'coyote' who leads other undocumented immigrants to the states. His family may not even know he's deceased.

Part 1 yes, part 2 him being a coyote...serious doubts...him being so young, part 3 I agree..his family doesn't know he is deceased....maybe even didn't bothered to search for him (but that is not what I want to believe)

 

[CaliforniaSleuther]

Mexico is in Latin America so maybe he’s from a tiny Mexican village in the boonies of Mexico. There are many illegal immigrants here in Orange County. I grew up with them and saw firsthand how so many Mexican families split up with the parents staying in Mexico and sending their kids here to school in the hopes of a better life. Maybe that was the case with this teen boy. Maybe his parents lived in Mexico and sent him here to OC in the hopes that perhaps he’d go to college and have a better life than them. Perhaps he got mixed up in Mexican gangs and was murdered. Did they determine how he died, or was he too decomposed to determine a definitive cause of death?

But as I said, if a Mexican kid was sent from their native Mexico to go to school here in OC, then that means the Mexican family probably had relatives here in OC for the kid to stay with. I don’t think any parent would send a 14 or 15-year-old off alone knowing he wouldn’t even be of age to find a job to sustain himself. I’m surprised the cops couldn’t at least find relatives in OC. Clearly a teenage illegal immigrant wouldn’t have left his family and traveled alone to California if he had zero relatives to stay with.

 

[Al Ka]

Guys, just for focus, he could be anywhere from US as well but of Native American or Hispanic descent, so we should not focus entirely only on Mexico. Native American and Hispanic ethnic groups are under represented in DNA databases in general, also in US.

 

[Al Ka]

'John Doe' Search Continues In Trabuco Canyon Cold Case: OCSD

Almost 24 years ago, searchers found the remains of a young boy in a remote area near Trabuco Canyon.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department Coroner Division, in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), has released newly updated images in the hope of identifying this John Doe.
---
Weathering, time, and environmental factors led investigators to believe the remains about 2 years old, leading investigators to determine the boy went missing sometime in 1995 or 1996. The cause of his death was never determined, due to the state of the remains, according to an OCSD spokesperson.

Based on initial anthropological estimates from 1996, it was believed this unknown male subject was between 15 - 19 years old, approximately 5'2" to 5'8" with a medium build.
---
Fast forward to 2020, when the Orange County Sheriff's Department contracted with the DNA Doe Project in an attempt to identify the young man.

"Initial genealogical DNA examinations confirmed he was Hispanic or Native American in origin and not primarily Caucasian as initially suspected," a spokesperson for the department said.
---
Anyone who has any information about John Doe can contact the Orange County Coroner Division at 714-647-7000 or coroner@ocsd.org, reference case number 96-07901-MU.

'John Doe' Search Continues In Trabuco Canyon Cold Case: OCSD
O.C. investigators release new sketch of unidentified teenager whose remains were found in 1996

 

[CaliforniaSleuther]

Guys, just for focus, he could be anywhere from US as well but of Native American or Hispanic descent, so we should not focus entirely only on Mexico. Native American and Hispanic ethnic groups are under represented in DNA databases in general, also in US.

I know he could be something other than Mexican, but I think he probably is Mexican since the majority of Latinos here in SoCal are Mexican and not from Brazil or another Latin American country. Perhaps there’s a small village in Mexico he’s from that had very few people left in recent decades, and perhaps him and his family were part of that dwindling population. Just speculating like everyone else . Mexican is most plausible to me because, as I said, that’s where the majority of Latinos here in SoCal are from.

I know they said that his genealogical DNA is not found in large quantities in the population, but they didn’t say he’s the only person with that DNA. In terms of people who share his genealogical DNA, were they unable to figure exactly where those people are now and where they were back then? I don’t know how they work. What I mean is, lets say a dead person who is 100% full Russian dies in some random city in America. Is there a way to figure out cities in the US that are full of Russians, and maybe look at families living there who are on sites like ancestry.com etc?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Just a note - I created a thread for Khanh Ngoc Trinh, who was mentioned on page 3 of this thread.
CA - Khanh Ngoc Trinh, 25, Lake Forest, 23 January 1995

 

[chatnoir84]

Guys, just for focus, he could be anywhere from US as well but of Native American or Hispanic descent, so we should not focus entirely only on Mexico. Native American and Hispanic ethnic groups are under represented in DNA databases in general, also in US.

Agreed, especially here in California. It's a melting pot here and, assuming may lead someone down the wrong path.

 

[JusticeVIII]

Mexico is in Latin America so maybe he’s from a tiny Mexican village in the boonies of Mexico. There are many illegal immigrants here in Orange County. I grew up with them and saw firsthand how so many Mexican families split up with the parents staying in Mexico and sending their kids here to school in the hopes of a better life. Maybe that was the case with this teen boy. Maybe his parents lived in Mexico and sent him here to OC in the hopes that perhaps he’d go to college and have a better life than them. Perhaps he got mixed up in Mexican gangs and was murdered. Did they determine how he died, or was he too decomposed to determine a definitive cause of death?

But as I said, if a Mexican kid was sent from their native Mexico to go to school here in OC, then that means the Mexican family probably had relatives here in OC for the kid to stay with. I don’t think any parent would send a 14 or 15-year-old off alone knowing he wouldn’t even be of age to find a job to sustain himself. I’m surprised the cops couldn’t at least find relatives in OC. Clearly a teenage illegal immigrant wouldn’t have left his family and traveled alone to California if he had zero relatives to stay with.

I would like to answer that because I belong to Mexico and I know the panorama around here.
Well, you see, it is not rare the occasion where gangs or drug traffickers send boys from 13 years of age to forward to be able to send them, the reason? conquest of territory or transport of substances, as you well say, here young boys are kidnapped in small towns to use them.
But from my experience, it is rare when the father takes the family, usually he leaves them so that he can take care of the rest, usually they stay there and create a new life and forget about their previous family

 

[sandydanny]

I grew up in a suburban development right on the edge Trabuco Canyon and my assumption is that he is from Mexico or Central America. This explains the indigenous roots as well. Very large population. Migrants are particularly vulnerable, are picked up for day jobs etc. It is completely plausible he came to California by himself, looking for a relative, looking for work.

<modsnip>

I'm now following this because it's close to (my old) home. Thank you to those who have continued to update this thread to try and find his identity.

 

[sandydanny]

Just a few more things while I'm thinking about this case.
The location his body was found (and I'm wondering circumstances of finding?) is not as remote as I initially assumed it was. It was more remote in 95 (less development) but I can see a much higher probability now of being dragged from a road. Map. We also had a highway, 74/Ortega, which has a long history of body dumps. If you zoom out on the map there you can see it to the south. Just some context. Can't believe I used to ride around on my bike on canyon trails in the area as a kid. The 90s I guess.

 

[Sillybilly]

Hey folks,

Please stop the stereotypical negative speculation re illegal migrants and/or gang connections. The goal is to identify this unfortunate individual, not make disparaging suggestions about his family or his lifestyle.

Thank you.

 

[chatnoir84]

Hey folks,

Please stop the stereotypical negative speculation re illegal migrants and/or gang connections. The goal is to identify this unfortunate individual, not make disparaging suggestions about his family or his lifestyle.

Thank you.

Amen! Thank you for being the voice of reason.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Clearly a teenage illegal immigrant wouldn’t have left his family and traveled alone to California if he had zero relatives to stay with.

Teenagers do travel to the U.S. alone, with no known destination yet, though.
Imagine how scary it must be.

 

[Grungster]

New reconstruction by @CarlK90245. Great work Carl.

 

[Bit of hope]

New reconstruction by @CarlK90245. Great work Carl.

[/QUOT

Most certainly a very good recon!

 

[djanga]

There is a new article about him and the DDP research:
The OC Sheriff is trying to identify a dead Latino teen found nearly 25 years ago in Trabuco Canyon
Posted on December 23, 2021 by Editor Posted in OC Sheriff, Orange County

SANTA ANA, Ca. (December 23, 2021) – The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Unit, in partnership with the DNA Doe Project, have released a newly updated image in hopes of identifying a John Doe found in Trabuco Canyon nearly 25 years ago.


On Dec. 13, 1996, Coroner Division and OCSD Homicide Investigators responded to reports of human remains found in a wilderness area east of Trabuco Creek Road in the unincorporated area of Trabuco Canyon. At the time, it was estimated the remains had been there up to two years, with environmental factors affecting their condition. Investigators believe the decedent went missing sometime in 1995 or 1996.
Based on initial anthropological estimates from 1996, it was believed this unknown male subject was around 15-19 years old, approximately 5’2” to 5’8” with a medium build. An odontologist’s report, which showed the decedent’s teeth were in poor condition, was submitted to a Department of Justice database. He was given the name John Doe as investigators worked to learn his identity.

In 2020, the Coroner Division partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in an attempt to generate leads that might deliver an identification. In 2020, a computed tomography (CT) scan of the skull was created and submitted to NCMEC, which used the latest reconstruction techniques to develop renderings of what John Doe may have looked like. With the new information, NCMEC modified their initial sketch from 2019 to produce a new likeness that reflects the suspected Latin American decent of John Doe.

In 2020, the Sheriff’s Department partnered with the DNA Doe Project in an attempt to identify the subject. Based on further genetic testing, it is believed the subject is likely from a remote/rural area in Latin America due to the very low threshold of genetic matches.

In September 2021, a new team of volunteers was brought onto the case by DNA Doe Project Case Managers that are specialists in Spanish Language databases. In conjunction with this renewed effort, a forensic artist affiliated with the DNA Doe Project has provided an additional rendering of the unidentified subject. Anyone who has any information about John Doe can contact the Orange County Coroner Division at 714-647-7400 or coroner@OCSheriff.gov, reference case number 96-07901-MU.

The OC Sheriff is trying to identify a dead Latino teen found nearly 25 years ago in Trabuco Canyon

 

[imstilla.grandma]

https://ocsheriff.gov/sites/ocsd/files/2021-12/21-12-23%20Updated%20John%20Doe%20Trabuco%20Canyon%20New%20Sketch.pdf