DNA, forensic genetic genealogy help identify 4 found dead in Ventura County decades ago

A few days before Christmas, a hiker found a man's body floating in a creek north of Fillmore, deep in the Los Padres National Forest.

He had wire-rimmed glasses, long reddish-brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a full beard. A Swiss Army knife was tucked in his pocket and the letter J engraved on a silver belt buckle. Investigators believed he had drowned possibly weeks before his body was found on Dec. 22, 2001. But they didn't know the circumstances or his name.

For the next two decades, he remained unidentified, one of the dozens of cold cases that date back to 1970 in the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office.

That changed earlier this year. Local authorities worked with Othram, a private lab in Texas that specializes in DNA sequencing and forensic genetic genealogy, to identify him and others.

“Everybody deserves to be identified,” said Dr. Renee Higgins, the medical examiner's office chief operating officer.

Families get answers to decades-old questions

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office and medical examiner staff sent 13 cases to Othram last year. So far, four — three men and one woman — have been identified. The first was confirmed in January.

• Paul James Jepson was 42 when he died and was found in the creek. He had not been in contact with his family since the mid-1980s, officials said.

• Linda Laverne Orndorff Charlesworth Burka's partially buried remains were found in Grimes Canyon near Fillmore in January 2000. She was born in 1947 and her last known address was in Long Beach, Othram said. Her manner of death was undetermined.

• Esteban Franco, born on Dec. 26, 1933, had an old injury to his left arm, according to reports. It was one of few details investigators had to go on when his remains were found near Ojai in 1979. His manner of death was undetermined.

• William Russell Howard Jr. was born in 1943. Originally from Minnesota, his body was found near railroad tracks in Ventura in 2002. His manner of death was listed as natural causes, authorities said.

Without the technology, the cases could have been unidentified indefinitely, Higgins said. Four families now have some answers and cold cases have new leads, she said.

“Even though it is a cold case, the investigation continues,” she said.

Othram uses genetic genealogy to find leads

Rescue personnel rappelled down a steep embankment off Grimes Canyon Road to recover skeletal remains in January 2000. They also found several articles of clothing and a backpack in the canyon near Fillmore and later released information, asking for the public's help to find more information about the woman.

Despite those efforts, which included some DNA testing and forensic dentistry, her remains went unidentified for 24 years. When Othram analysts extracted DNA, they built a profile, which investigators have now used to identify her as Linda Burke.

The lab uses the profiles to match the unidentified remains to others in a database, searching for potential relatives that could lead to an identification. But it is the lab's ability to develop a profile from small samples of DNA that makes the biggest difference, said Michael Vogen, Othram's account management director. In some cases, skeletal remains or other evidence have gone undiscovered for years outdoors and the DNA could be contaminated or degraded, he said.

When the genealogy work starts, results can happen quickly if a close family member is located, he said. When searches find someone more distantly related, they take more time as genealogists or investigators sift through family trees. At times, additional DNA testing happens to confirm an ID.

So far, Ventura County authorities have not paid for Othram's work on the cases, officials said. Funding has come from organizations such as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs.

Cold cases get new leads in Ventura County

Over the past few months, Ashley Williams, an administrative specialist with the medical examiner's office, spoke to relatives, some of whom had gone decades not knowing what happened to their family member. She and others are now working on returning the remains to those families.

The additional information also could lead to more details about the deaths, Williams said.

What happens next could vary from case to case, said sheriff's Sgt. Albert Ramirez, who supervises detectives in the cold case unit. It will likely depend on the evidence and any leads, he said. Some cases may be closed if the manner of death is determined to be natural. Others will remain open and the investigation ongoing, he said.

The identifications not only could help the investigation but also bring closure to someone's family, Ramirez said, and some have spent a long time without any answers.

Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: DNA helps ID 4 decades-old cold case deaths in Ventura County