- Human remains found inside a tent at Olympic National Park in Washington in July 2000 have finally been identified after a nearly 30-year investigation.
- A researcher found the skeletal remains inside a sleeping bag in a tent in a remote area of the Sol Duc River drainage, and a pathologist determined that the man had been dead for six months to four years. Items recovered from the tent were processed by a crime lab but investigators were unable to develop usable latent fingerprints.
- A DNA sample was submitted to Othram in 2024, and the firm used forensic genealogy to identify possible family connections. The National Park Service Investigative Services Branch then contacted relatives in several states, including Hawaii, and coordinated interviews and the collection of reference DNA samples for comparison.
- This week, the remains were publicly identified as Joseph Louis Serrao Jr. He was originally from Hawaii and had been in Washington before he went missing. His family said they’d last been in contact with him in 1998 and they had not heard from him since.
- “This case remained unresolved for nearly 30 years, but investigators never lost sight of the goal of identifying this individual and finding answers for his family," said Debra Flowers, deputy chief of the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch. "I'm proud of the persistence and collaboration that made this identification possible, and I hope it brings some measure of closure to those who have spent so many years wondering what happened to Joseph.”
