Identified! CA - Salmon Creek Beach, Sonoma County, WhtMale, uncertain age, bone with surgical hardware, 17 June 2022 *id'd Walter Karl Kinney (59), missing 1999*

[djanga]

On June 17, 2022, a family looking for sea shells on Salmon Creek Beach in Sonoma County, California came across a long bone sticking out of the sand. The bone contained surgical hardware and a later pathology examination revealed it was possibly a tibia.

A search of the discovery area did not reveal any further remains. However, DNA testing has confirmed that this bone belonged to a Caucasian man.

NamUs ID:

N/A

Date Body Found:

June 17, 2022

Race:

White/Caucasian

Sex:

Male

Estimated Age:

Uncertain

Estimated PMI:

Uncertain

Agency of Jurisdiction:

Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office
Detective Brandon Mitchell
707-565-2337
[email protected]

Salmon Creek John Doe 2022 | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

 

[djanga]

I am wondering if they couldn’t track the surgical hardware with a serial number?

 

[victoriarobinson642]

I am wondering if they couldn’t track the surgical hardware with a serial number?

Maybe it was only a part of the hardware that didn't have a serial #.

 

[Caring1]

Read our full press release here: Salmon Creek John Doe 2022 | DNA Doe Project

 

[Rikissa]

From the article in the post above:

This case was unusual – it’s not often we see someone end up as a John Doe twice,” said team leader Traci Onders. “But thanks to investigative genetic genealogy, we were able to resolve this mystery and provide some answers to everyone involved in this case.”

Walter Kinney went missing in 1999, and partial remains had been found the same year, and identified in 2003. The bone found in 2022 was was one more piece, returned by the ocean.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Investigators requested Kinney’s hospital records and learned he had foot problems and X-rays on file. The X-rays matched the leg found at Bodega Head.
The 2003 news coverage caught the eye of DNA Doe Project researchers, who sent the information to the sheriff’s office. Within eight days, they had a match. Now, 23 years later, Kinney’s other leg had been identified as the Salmon Creek John Doe.
“This case was unusual – it’s not often we see someone end up as a John Doe twice,” DNA Doe Project team leader Traci Onders said in a statement. “But thanks to investigative genetic genealogy, we were able to resolve this mystery and provide some answers to everyone involved in this case

Client Challenge

 

[djanga]

DNA Doe Project volunteers quickly used the DNA profile provided to find a family in San Diego. Among the family members was Walter Karl Kinney, who was born there in 1940 and moved to Santa Rosa, where he worked as a banker.
Kinney disappeared in August 1999 when he was 59 years old. And, to researchers’ surprise, his partial remains had already been found.
In 1999, a leg washed up off Bodega Head, about five miles down the coast from Salmon Creek Beach. The foot was still inside a size 12 Rockport ProWalker shoe that had a custom-made orthopedic insert. With no other remains, the sheriff’s office hit a dead end in their investigation.

Client Challenge