A mother discovered a jawbone in her son’s rock collection. Genealogy researchers find remains of U.S. Marine 22 years later | CNN

CNN
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More than two decades after a mother discovered a human jawbone in her son’s rock collection, genetic genealogists have unraveled the find and identified the partial remains of a U.S. Marine captain.

Adding to the decades-long mystery, Captain Everett Leland Yeager, 30, was killed during a military training exercise in Riverside County, California, in July 1951. It was previously believed that He is buried in Palmyra, Missouri.

The Center for Genetic Genealogy at Ramapo College in New Jersey, which opened two years ago, helped identify the bone as belonging to Yeager in March, according to a news release.

The son inherited the rocks from his grandfather, an avid rock collector, according to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office in northern Arizona. His mother discovered the collection in 2002, discovered what appeared to be human remains and contacted the Sheriff’s Office, authorities said in a statement.

The Sheriff’s Office received a human jawbone containing several teeth, and officials said the bone was likely found somewhere in the county, although it was found in the son’s rock collection, according to the Center for Investigative Genetic Genealogy. of families are unsure of a specific place and time. The remains are known as the “Anonymous Rock Collection.”

It’s unclear how the jawbone arrived in Arizona, but according to Ramapo College, it’s possible a bird picked it up from California.

Conventional DNA testing at the time did not produce a match to the remains in government databases.

In January 2023, the Sheriff’s Office and the Yavapai County Medical Examiner turned the case over to the Center for Investigative Genetic Genealogy. The college worked with the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office on the case at no charge, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Because the type of DNA testing used (for investigative genetic genealogy) is different from the DNA testing typically performed by law enforcement, leftover extracts from previously completed DNA tests need to go to a second laboratory, said Kay, associate director of the Department of Research Genetics at Ramapo College. Cairenn Binder Genealogy Center told CNN.

The extract was sent to a forensic laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, where advanced DNA genotyping was performed, Binder said. From there, a profile was developed and uploaded to two genealogy databases, GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA, the release said.

After a month-long lab processing in Salt Lake City, the University’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Camp received the case last July and used the profile to identify Yeager.

Camp participants, who typically range in age from 18 to 80, include a 15-year-old high school student named Ethan Schwartz, who Ramapo College said reportedly has a history of The youngest person ever to contribute to the resolution of a genetic genealogy investigation case.

The cohort used data from GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA to examine seven key genetic matches to come up with the hypothesis that the jaw belonged to Yager, Binder said.

“This is really unusual because usually when solving a case we’re looking for a missing person and we can’t find any record of that person,” Binder said.

She added that when students proposed Mr. Yeager’s candidacy, the cause of his death was already known and that he had a military funeral and was recorded in the public record, which confused our faculty, staff, and students alike.

The camp team shared this information with the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, who contacted Yeager’s next of kin to confirm a DNA relationship to his closest living relative.

Ramapo College said a reference sample taken from Yeager’s daughter in March positively identified Yeager, and the college said in a news release that plans are being made to return Yeager’s remains to his family. family.

According to the college, this successful identification marks the first case resolution from a student cohort at the Center for Research in Genetic Genealogy’s summer camp.

Gurney said the case will remain unsolved and the mystery will remain in Yavapai County. I think it shows how research genetic genealogy stepped in and became the most incredible research tool since the advent of DNA.