Hikers found body floating in CA creek in 2001, company says. Now he’s identified
A man has been identified 23 years after he was found dead in a California creek, according to a forensic genetic genealogy company.
As hikers trekked through Los Padres National Forest near Fillmore in December 2001, they found a man’s body floating in Sespe Creek, Othram Inc., the company that helped identify the man, said in a March 25 news release.
The remains were identified as Paul James Jepson, a Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office spokesperson confirmed in an April 1 email to McClatchy News.
When his remains were found in 2001, Othram said some personal items, including clothing and a pair of black, wire-rim glasses, were with him.
It had been weeks between the man’s death and him being found in the creek, according to the company.
The man, estimated to be between 30 to 60 years old, could not be identified at the time, Othram said.
Six years after he was found dead, the company said the case was added to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
Though efforts were made to identify the man, including the release of a forensic sketch, Othram said his “identity remained a mystery.”
Last year, the company said the county’s medical examiner’s office turned its efforts to forensic genetic genealogy, partnering with Othram.
Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.
Using forensic evidence from the medical examiner’s office, the company said its scientists made a “comprehensive genealogical profile” for the man.
Othram said the team used this profile to “conduct extensive genetic genealogy research,” which was used to create new leads for law enforcement.
This follow-up investigation led investigators to the man’s potential relatives, the company said.
After DNA testing was done, the company said it positively identified the man as Jepson.
Jepson, who was 42 years old in 2001, had not spoken “with his family since the mid-1980s,” according to the company.
His manner of death has not been determined, according to the medical examiner’s office spokesperson.
Fillmore is about a 55-mile drive northwest from Los Angeles.
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