WA WA- Spokane River near Nine Mile Falls Dam, Spokane County, John Doe #UP680, remains of a human foot, Sep. '99, DNA - Name withheld, 2024.

[dotr]

After 25 years, Spokane County John Doe (1999) is Identified

Spokane Medical Examiner's Office Teams with Othram to Identify a 1999 John Doe

dnasolves.com

''In September 1999, an underwater diver was swimming in the Spokane River near Nine Mile Falls Dam in Spokane County, Washington and discovered what appeared to be the remains of a human foot in a black crew sock. The diver brought the foot ashore and called authorities, with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Spokane County Coroner responding to the scene. The foot was determined to be human and additional searches of the river and shoreline were carried out. Unfortunately, these searches yielded no further remains, leaving only the foot to be examined and identified. At the time of discovery, the remains were thought to be female. However, further testing in 2015 confirmed the remains to be male. Based on the evidence recovered at the scene, no identifying characteristics or other information could be determined for the individual.

In November 2007, details of the case were uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP680. With few leads to follow, the case went cold. For 25 years, the person’s identity was a mystery.

In 2022, the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office once again teamed with Othram to use advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy to identify the unknown individual.''

 

[MarziPanda]

I'm glad he's been identified and I hope it brings some peace to his family. Though I do wonder if, since they didn't find any other body parts, the rest of his body might have been found and identified at some other time and part of the river. Or if he wasn't reported missing because he was known to have drowned. So often these unidentified 'body of water' Does (especially if just bones or body parts) seem to be people who were known to have vanished in a boating accident etc and somehow nobody connected the dots (especially if they floated some ways down a river).

RIP to this gentleman.