VA VA - Sturgeon Point, Wht/HispMale 17-23, UP9398, "John Charles City Doe 1979", Aug'79

[ChatteringBirds]

DNA Doe Project is now trying to identify this young man found in 1979 along the James River.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP9398
Male, Multiple
Date Body Found: August 28, 1979
Location Found: Sturgeon Point, Virginia
NCMEC Number: 2016800
ME/C Case Number: C1979-95236
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian, Hispanic / Latino
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 30
Estimated Age Range (Years): 17-23
Estimated Year of Death: 1977-1979
Estimated PMI: 6 Months
Height: 5' 3"-5' 9"(63-69 inches) , Estimated
Weight: Cannot Estimate
Hair/Eye Color: Unknown

Clothing: white with blue stripes shirt, khaki colored slacks with brown belt size 32" in length

Circumstances of Recovery:
Skeletal remains were found along the bank of the James River in Charles City County Virginia. Interval between death & discovery, several months to two years.

John Charles City Doe 1979 | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

Description:
Partial skeletal remains were found along the bank of the James River in Charles City County Virginia on August 28, 1979. Authorities estimate this John Doe was 17-23 years old, between 5’3” and 5’9” tall, and could be Hispanic. He wore a white shirt with blue stripes, khaki colored pants, and a brown belt 32″ in length.

Status: Undergoing Testing

 

[Melt71]

Still marked as Undergoing Testing.

 

[iulia]

His NamUs page has been removed.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

His NamUs page has been removed.

I notice the link to DNA Doe Project is also down. I wonder if there will be an update.

 

[iulia]

I notice the link to DNA Doe Project is also down. I wonder if there will be an update.

He is still listed on DDP, but I think they moved him to a different part of their site and the initial link doesn’t work anymore.

John Charles City Doe 1979 | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

 

[djanga]

His profile on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website, was removed as well

 

[faithx]

He has been identified as Nick Lopsis, who was reported missing on May 31, 1979. Charles City County Sheriff's Office and Richmond City Police Department will release more information at an upcoming press conference.

Charles City County Investigator Uses Genetic Genealogy to Solve 1979 Cold Case - Virginia Sheriffs’ Association

Charles City County authorities have announced a breakthrough in a decades-old cold case, identifying human remains discovered along the James River in 1979 through the use of advanced genetic genealogy. Investigator Zohra Anwari was contacted by the Virginia State Police Cold Case Division...

vasheriff.org

 

[victoriarobinson642]

John Charles City Doe 1979 | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

Nearly five decades after his body was found on the banks of the James River, John Charles City Doe has been identified as 27-year-old Nick S. Lopsis. Though he was a native of Prince William County, Lopsis was living in Richmond at the time of his disappearance. He was last seen leaving his residence to go to a workshop, after which he was never heard from again.
The team presented this lead to the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, at which point investigators reached out to Nick’s sister. She informed them that she hadn’t heard from her brother since 1979, when he vanished from the Richmond group home where he’d been living. Rapid DNA testing later confirmed that Nick Lopsis was indeed John Charles City Doe.

 

[djanga]

Wow, they thought he was latin and he actually was half-greek

In spite of this challenge, the team made swift progress, identifying a family in West Virginia that the unidentified man had ties to. After just three days of research, they found that a descendant of this family had moved from West Virginia to the Washington, D.C. area, where she met and married a man who was originally from Greece. The team then discovered that this couple had a son called Nick, born in 1952 – but he seemed to have vanished from the records.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

He was 5 years older than the estimate. Something to keep in mind for other unidentified people.

Good work by all who investigated this case.

 

[summergirl1]

He was reported missing and some of his remains were found fairly soon, and yet it doesn't seem like it was ever considered that the two could be the same?

 

[summergirl1]

Wow, they thought he was latin and he actually was half-greek

In spite of this challenge, the team made swift progress, identifying a family in West Virginia that the unidentified man had ties to. After just three days of research, they found that a descendant of this family had moved from West Virginia to the Washington, D.C. area, where she met and married a man who was originally from Greece. The team then discovered that this couple had a son called Nick, born in 1952 – but he seemed to have vanished from the records.

I think there's a usually a definite difference between looking Mediterranean and looking Hispanic, but at least the original investigators picked up on the fact he had some different ancestry.

 

[summergirl1]

He has been identified as Nick Lopsis, who was reported missing on May 31, 1979. Charles City County Sheriff's Office and Richmond City Police Department will release more information at an upcoming press conference.

Charles City County Investigator Uses Genetic Genealogy to Solve 1979 Cold Case - Virginia Sheriffs’ Association

Charles City County authorities have announced a breakthrough in a decades-old cold case, identifying human remains discovered along the James River in 1979 through the use of advanced genetic genealogy. Investigator Zohra Anwari was contacted by the Virginia State Police Cold Case Division...

vasheriff.org

This says there's going to be a press conference about him being identified. From what I can find, I don't think it's happened yet. To give an idea of what Greek looking vs Hispanic looking can be, Alexander Onassis, Aristotle Onassis's son who died young, who was fairly close in age to Nick comes to mind. He was all Greek, not half Greek, and I don't think anyone would have ever mistaken him for being Hispanic. But without seeing a photo of Nick Lopsis, it's perhaps hard to say why investigators might have thought that.

 

[The4TierBridge]

This says there's going to be a press conference about him being identified. From what I can find, I don't think it's happened yet. To give an idea of what Greek looking vs Hispanic looking can be, Alexander Onassis, Aristotle Onassis's son who died young, who was fairly close in age to Nick comes to mind. He was all Greek, not half Greek, and I don't think anyone would have ever mistaken him for being Hispanic. But without seeing a photo of Nick Lopsis, it's perhaps hard to say why investigators might have thought that.

The NamUs profile for this one originally said “white/black” and the race was changed to Hispanic after the National Center for Missing Children got involved late last year. Both would have been the determinations of anthropology consults.

This was the 3D recon. made as part of the original investigation which was also in NamUs.

 

[djanga]

Just wondering if the full name for Nick is Nikolaos or Nickolas, maybe we would be able to find photos with his full name.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Just wondering if the full name for Nick is Nikolaos or Nickolas, maybe we would be able to find photos with his full name.

I couldn't find much of anything, even just searching by last name.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

DNA solves 46-year-old Charles City County cold case

After almost half a century of unanswered questions, a name has finally been attached to remains discovered in Charles City County.

www.wtvr.com

This article has a photo of Nick.
His family had feared Lopsis, who had an intellectual disability, was shipped off to a migrant camp when he first disappeared.
No foul play was suspected in Lopsis's death, and the cold missing persons case is now officially closed. Deputies praised Virginia State Police and Richmond Police for their assistance in the investigation.

 

[summergirl1]

It doesn't sound like he would have committed suicide and it is not regarded as foul play. The newspaper article said he would sometimes drink a little with transients. Perhaps he had more than he should have and ended up in the water. Or he was doing something by the water, and went too far or fell in by accident? Perhaps he even wandered off into the water, although it sounds like despite being intellectually disabled, he had more awareness than that. I'm guessing he couldn't swim.

It sounds like he should have had more supervision on his way to the workshop. He had been working there for two years without incident, though. The article said he enjoyed working at the workshop so I'm a little surprised he got distracted on his way there. He definitely didn't look Hispanic. I can see Greek in him, though.