TX TX- Hondo, Off Red Wing Road, Medina County, John Doe, 26/11/79, DNA- Gary Alan Robbins, 33, 2024

[dotr]

rbbm

45-year-old Hill Country cold case makes DNA breakthrough

The Medina County Sheriff's Office has used DNA analysis to solve a 45-year-old cold case, identifying remains as Gary Alan Robbins of Chicago.

www.mysanantonio.com

'DNA has once again helped law enforcement in the Texas Hill Country make a breakthrough in a decades old cold case. Whether or not that breakthrough results in murder charges or any suspicions of serial killers remains another thing entirely'
''The breakthrough came thanks to advancements in DNA analysis. The Medina County Sheriff's Office revisited the case by working with Identifinders International and Intermountain Forensics, with financial support from Gray Hughes Investigates, a True Crime YouTuber. ''
Sep 4 '24

Body found in Medina County 44 years ago identified

The body of a man that was found on the side of a Medina County road nearly 45 years ago has finally been identified.

www.ksat.com

'HONDO, Texas – The body of a man that was found on the side of a Medina County road nearly 45 years ago has finally been identified.
According to the Medina County Sheriff’s Office, the victim is identified as Gary Alan Robbins, 33.'

'Robbins’ remains were found on Nov. 26, 1979, in some brush off Red Wing Road, which is now called County Road 371 in Castroville'.

'While the victim has been identified, the investigation into Robbins’ death continues.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Sergeant Investigator Alfonso R. Oranday at 830-741-6150 or email alfonso.oranday@medinatx.org.'

 

[HopeRains]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[boopboopshoop]

Rest in peace, Gary

 

[dotr]

Sep 6, 2024
After nearly 45 of investigative work, the body discovered in Castroville has been identified as Gary Alan Robbins.

 

[Friday Fan]

I wonder what Gray Hughes has to do with this case? I never heard of it. And obviously, the case was not posted about on WS until he was identified.

I'm glad he was identified, but somehow Hughes must have heard about it and interested him.

 

[MarziPanda]

Honestly I kinda love that some true crime Youtubers are putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak. There are some true crime Youtubers who make a lot of money out of talking about unsolved crimes. Whilst it's good that this brings unsolved crimes to more people who might never have heard of them before, some have argued that it's predatory to talk about these cases (where real people have died and real families are going through hell) with such morbid fascination like it's a TV show, whilst making money out of doing so. It's good to see some of that money go back into actually getting cases solved. It seems like Gary's case wasn't well known which is even better imo - whilst all cases deserve closure, it's great to bring light to older and unknown cases.

IIRC, Audiochuck (a podcast company that hosts a lot of true crime podcasts) has sponsored cases with Othram before to get them solved. I hope more creators in this space get involved. Websleuths is different as we're actively collaborating to try to solve cases, but I also love the team up with Othram that Websleuths has. Going one step closer to bring closure to families like Gary's.

Identifying Gary doesn't necessarily close the case as they don't seem to know who killed him, but it sure gets them one step closer (can look at people who knew him, what kind of life he led) and brings some peace to his family.

 

[Friday Fan]

So, I checked out Gray Hughes and didn't see any reference to this specific case.

He probably sent a blanket donation to an agency for Doe IDs and likely did not earmark them for this specific case, but were available for Doe IDs.

Medina County likely became aware of available of funds and were able to use them to solve this case and thanked him. MOO...

I didn't see any reference to this particular case in his videos or on his website.

All just MOO

 

[Vern]

So, I checked out Gray Hughes and didn't see any reference to this specific case.

He probably sent a blanket donation to an agency for Doe IDs and likely did not earmark them for this specific case, but were available for Doe IDs.

Medina County likely became aware of available of funds and were able to use them to solve this case and thanked him. MOO...

I didn't see any reference to this particular case in his videos or on his website.

All just MOO

He covers Medina County Doe, Gary Allen Robbins, in his video from September 5th. Starts about 2m10s in.

Found it by searching his channel for "Medina", then pulling up the transcript.

I do believe that Gray and his followers fund specific "lower-publicity" (neglected??) cases and also generic donations for other cases as well.