Learning about John Doe

The identity of a badly charred man’s body may have been tentatively solved. His body was discovered in a burned out car on the Pikes Peak highway this past weekend. He could be a man from Texas. His family will have to positively identity him. Colorado Springs Police investigators said Thursday, evidence that was found helped get them closer to identifying him. An autopsy done by the El Paso County Coroner’s office has also determined that at this point, there’s nothing to lead them to believe the man’s death was linked to foul play or criminal activity.

While that man’s grieving family will have some answers about what happened to him, another John Doe’s family is still waiting for answers to their questions. On April 14th, a man’s skeleton was discovered by the Colorado College soccer team. Players were doing volunteer cleanup west of downtown in an illegal homeless camp site.

El Paso County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Leon Kelly tells me the man is white and between 30 to 40 years old. Dr. Kelly told me, “It can be a rewarding feeling to call the families and tell them your loved one is with us. We’ll get him back to you and you can begin to move on.” In the case of this John Doe, that’s not happening just yet. I asked Dr. Kelly, “At this point this (investigation) is stumping you?” Dr. Kelly, “It is. We don’t know who this person is, not a clue. That limits what we can do to narrow it down.” Dr. Kelly made it abundantly clear he and his staff are not giving up to find out the identity of John Doe.

Dr. Kelly told me he does have clues to help narrow down the search. This man had replacement surgeries so Dr. Kelly is trying to use the serial numbers from those replacements to find the company that made them and locate the man, that way. Another clue is that near the body was a newspaper dated in 2008. We always hear about how DNA has significantly helped find answers to solve mysteries. Dr. Kelly says DNA is helpful, but there are limitations. He says, “You still need to have an idea about who that person is to compare the body’s DNA to a known standard. In previous cases you can use surgical specimens or even a shaving kit. I had one where a wife kept a shaving kit of her husband’s that had skin cells on it so we could compare the two specimens to determine a match.”

The El Paso County Coroner’s office conducts about one thousand autopsies every year.