Mystery remains found in Alameda Marina in 2008 identified as 20-year-old man from Honduras

CBS News

5 days ago

Human remains found floating in the Alameda Marina nearly two decades ago have now been positively identified, authorities announced.
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office said in a social media post on Thursday that partial skeletal remains were discovered in the marina in September 2008, with a white or gray sock and a size 8.5 Vision brand skateboarder-type shoe. In July 2001, additional skeletal remains were found floating across the Oakland Estuary from the Alameda Marina, near Embarcadero East and the Coast Guard Island Bridge.
DNA comparison confirmed that both sets of remains were of the same person, the Sheriff's Office said, but the cause and manner of death were undetermined due to only a partial skeletal finding.
Extensive investigative efforts to determine the person's identity were unsuccessful until the Sheriff's Office began working with Texas-based forensic technology firm Othram. Investigators sent DNA evidence to Othram, which uses proprietary advanced genome sequencing techniques that can extract genetic information from degraded or low-quality samples. The company was able to create a comprehensive DNA profile for use in a genetic genealogy investigation to develop new leads in the case, the Sheriff's Office said.
With the new information, investigators were able to conduct follow-up inquiries, leading them to potential relatives of the unidentified person, the Sheriff's Office said. Using Othram's technology that rapidly confirms or excludes candidates as potential relatives, the analysis helped confirm a genetic relationship to the DNA profile.
In late June, 17 years after the initial discovery of the remains, they were identified as Esteban Pablo Pablo, a 20-year-old man who was last seen alive in Alameda County in 2007. Since the identification, the Sheriff's Office has been working with the Pablo Pablo's family to reunite him with his family in Honduras.
"Thank you to the family of Esteban Pablo Pablo, who provided the pictures above and allowed us to share his story," the Sheriff's Office said in the social media post. "We hope to reunite them soon."
The Sheriff's Office said the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) funded the advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy science used in the case. NamUs is a U.S. Department of Justice national program that helps law enforcement and the criminal justice community in resolving missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases nationwide.