On August 2, 1986, two U.S. Forest Service workers were out collecting timber data on a remote logging road in the Mt. Hood National Forest near Government Camp when they stumbled upon a human skull, bone fragments, and a single tooth.

Investigators took photos of the scene and the remains were transported and inventoried at the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.

The coroner estimated that the skull had been in the woods for about a decade, which meant the person had died around 1976. Investigators released those details to the public and they got dozens of leads through a tip line.

But the case went cold. It was just another body found in Oregon’s woods unclaimed, unidentified.

On Episode 4 of The Unidentifieds, hosts Regan Mertz and Dave Killen take listeners to the dense woods near Government Camp to revisit the case which found a resolution 34 years later thanks to advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy.

Listen to Episode 4 here:

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Look for Episode 5 on May 8.

– Andrew Theen and Regan Mertz