A body found floating under a California bridge has been identified as that of missing New Yorker Robert Craig Whitsett more than two decades after authorities began investigating its origin.
Doctors used an ingenious DNA profiling technique to identify a link between the remains and one of the blond man’s living relatives.
In 2003 the corpse was found floating in water beneath the Coast Guard Island Bridge near Oakland, California.
Cops combed the area for evidence and collected his remains and clothing.
But technological limitations meant they could not figure out who he was.
At the time the man became known as Oakland John Doe.
In 2017, almost fifteen years after Whitsett’s body was discovered, details of the case were uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), according to DNASolves.com.
NamUs is the only national repository for ‘missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases’, according to the organization’s website.
It serves as a ‘resource hub for law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, and investigating professionals’.
Robert Craig Whitsett’s body went unidentified for more than twenty years before the cold case was solved
His corpse was found in the water beneath the Coast Guard Island Bridge (bottom right) in 2003
Another seven years would pass before the Alameda County sheriff-coroner submitted forensic evidence to Othram, a company that solves cold cases by using cutting-edge DNA technology.
Othram scientists used genome sequencing to build a profile of Oakland John Doe, which was paid for by NamUS.
Such profiles examine ‘tiny variations at individual points in the DNA sequence,’ according to BODE technology.
‘These variations provide a detailed genetic roadmap… and can identify relatives as distant as third or fourth cousins, allowing investigators to build family trees,’ the company says.
The profile created new investigative leads for the cold case.
The leads were returned to police who used them to find potential relatives of the dead man.
Their investigations successfully led them to a relative that matched his genetic profile.
Scientists at Othram used modern forensic DNA analysis to create a genetic profile of Whitsett that led to his identification
Oakland John Doe was then positively identified as Robert Craig Whitsett, who went by ‘Craig’ when he was alive.
‘Even when it’s a cold case it’s time critical because surviving family members deserve to know what happened to their loved ones,’ said Kristen Mittelman, Othram’s chief development officer.
‘This is a powerful technology and it is delivering so many answers to so many people.’
This is the 68th cold case in California that has been solved with the aid of Othram’s forensic technology.
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