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Topics: California, US News
Callum Jones
A severed leg that was discovered on a remote US beach in 2022 has been identified as the remains of a banker who went missing over two decades ago.
Walter Karl Kinney disappeared without a trace in August 1999 and was reported missing by his family when he was 59 years old.
Authorities thought they had a breakthrough that same year after a single leg was discovered near Bodega Head, on the coast of northern California, roughly five miles down the road from where recent remains were uncovered.
However, based off the limited evidence regarding a size 12 walking shoe, officials were unable to pinpoint the remains and the case went officially cold.
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A new revelation then came to light in 2003 after authorities looked into medical records after being pushed by the banker's daughter.
Ultimately, an X-ray of his feet matched the remains in the shoe and Kinney was declared dead.
While you may think that would have been that, the missing persons case resurfaced in June 2022 after a family's hunt for seashells along Salmon Creek Beach in California ended in a shocking discovery.
During their exploration of the sandy beach, the family uncovered a human-looking bone in the sand.
For years, the same man had been identified as 'John Doe', though thanks to work done by the DNA Doe Project in collaboration with police, DNA profiles were able to link the deceased man back to that of Kinney, who had been missing for nearly three decades.
They uncovered the DNA from the leg uncovered in 2002 was a perfect match for the individual identified more than two decades ago in 2003.
DNA Doe Project team leader Traci Onders said: "This case was unusual – it’s not often we see someone end up as a John Doe twice. But thanks to investigative genetic genealogy, we were able to resolve this mystery and provide some answers to everyone involved in this case."
The group added in a statement: "The DNA Doe Project is grateful to the groups who we worked with to solve this case: the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, who entrusted this case to us; Genologue for sequencing; Astrea Forensics for bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro for providing their database; our generous donors who joined our mission and contributed to this case; and the DNA Doe Project’s dedicated teams of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our John and Jane Does home."
Meanwhile, Sonoma Sheriff's Office added: "Thank you to the DNA Doe Project for helping us put a name to the human remains found at Salmon Creek Beach.
"We value this partnership as we continue working together to identify remains found in Sonoma County."