Latest news with #Othram
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Missing Wrestler's Remains Found, Identified Due To DNA Testing
Remains of missing wrestler Keeble Wofford Sr. identified through DNA testing after over 20 years. Authorities have identified human remains found in 2001 as Keeble Wofford Sr., a former professional wrestler and actor who vanished in 1992. Texas-based forensic DNA company Othram confirmed the identification using DNA testing technology. Keeble Wofford's remains were found by Hikers in 2001 in the Santa Fe National Forest and reported them to authorities, who listed the case as 'Sandoval County John Doe.' In 2021, DNA testing by Othram matched the remains to a sample from Wofford's daughter, confirming his identity. The lab used its specialized 'forensic-grade genome sequencing' to create a detailed DNA profile. The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator has issued a death certificate for Wofford. His cremated remains will be returned to his daughter. The Othram's Chief Development Officer, Kristen Mittelman said people should know that no matter how old a case is or how hopeless it once seemed, today's technology can still bring answers. Mittelman said, 'People should know that it doesn't matter how old a case is, or whether it was hopeless in the past, there is technology here today that is able to bring answers to families like in this case. This was a well-known man who just disappeared more than 20 years ago and now he has his name again.' Investigators believe he vanished while traveling from Pueblo, Colorado to Albuquerque for a business meeting in September 1992. Keeble Wofford Sr. wrestled in the 1950s as Kimo Mahi. El Paso Herald-Post once called Mahi a 'brave Hawaiian wrestler' in their column. He also acted in films and TV shows, including Twilight for the Gods, Hawaiian Eye and Sea Hunt. Read More: The post Missing Wrestler's Remains Found, Identified Due To DNA Testing appeared first on Wrestlezone.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Body found in Santa Fe National Forest identified as 1950s grappler
Human remains discovered more than two decades ago in the Santa Fe National Forest have been identified as Keeble Wofford Sr., known in the 1950s as actor and wrestler Kimo Mahi, who had been missing since 1992. The case is the fourth in New Mexico in which state officials have been able to positively identify someone using the DNA testing technology of forensic genealogy company Othram, the firm claims. Wofford's bones were found by hikers in the forest in Sandoval County in 2001 and reported to the Sandoval County Sheriff's Office, Othram said in a news release. Deputies entered the case into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System as Sandoval County John Doe, whose identity remained a mystery. Kimo Kimo Mahi In 2021, the sheriff's office and the state Office of the Medical Investigator sent the remains to the lab of Texas-based Othram, which used a process it calls "forensic-grade genome sequencing" to build a DNA profile from the remains, the news release states. Othram compared a DNA sample from Wofford's daughter to the unidentified remains and was able to positively identify them, the company said. A death certificate was then drafted for Wofford, and his cremated remains were returned to his daughter. Investigators believe Wofford had been traveling from Pueblo, Colo., to Albuquerque in September 1992 for a business meeting and "was never heard from again," the news release says. Wofford competed as wrestler Kimo Mahi in the 1950s and '60s. He was described in an El Paso Herald-Post column as a "plucky Hawaiian grappler." He also appeared in at least one film — Twilight for the Gods, starring Rock Hudson and Cyd Charisse — and several television shows, according to IMDb, including the series Hawaiian Eye and Sea Hunt. Othram's technology has been used in the past to identify the remains of two women found in and near Albuquerque as well as a suspect in a 1987 rape and murder case in Carlsbad, according to the company. "People should know that it doesn't matter how old a case is, or whether it was hopeless in the past, there is technology here today that is able to bring answers to families like in this case," Kristen Mittelman, the company's chief development officer, said in a statement. "This was a well-known man who just disappeared more than 20 years ago and now he has his name again."
ABC News
19-05-2025
- ABC News
After nearly 60 years, Marin County Jane Doe identified as Dorothy Vaillancourt
Penelope Vaillancourt was 15 when she lost contact with her Australian-born mother Dorothy after moving out of their troubled home in California in 1965. Now 74, she is shocked to learn Dorothy's body was found on a cliff the following year but went unidentified for almost six decades. Known as the Marin County Jane Doe, the woman's identity was a mystery until March this year, when work by forensic DNA company Othram and US law enforcement officials restored her true name. The discovery "opens up a whole new book with no answers" for a grieving Ms Vaillancourt, who still lives in California. Next year will mark six decades since Dorothy's badly decomposed body was found in underbrush, roughly 20 feet below the winding Paradise Drive outside San Francisco. At the time, authorities said the mystery woman, with no identification, had lain unseen for several months before she was found. There had been no reports of a missing woman matching her description. But a firefighter in a nearby station did advise police that a woman fitting Dorothy's description had asked him for accommodation and the use of a car, both of which were declined. "I'm really upset about knowing she was down a ravine … that she had been there for months," Ms Vaillancourt said. Newspaper clippings have helped Ms Vaillancourt piece together the story of her mother's life as well as death. Born in Tasmania in August 1917, Dorothy Jean Williams married US serviceman Francois Arthur Vaillancourt in Victoria in 1943. An article on their wedding describes how Dorothy wore a trained gown of handmade lace paired with a full-length veil, cut on tailored lines. Later she'd changed into a "black frock" and a fur coat that she wore with a blue velvet handbag and hat. The description fits with Ms Vaillancourt's recollections of a stylish mother who turned heads when she walked into a room. "She had style, she was just that kind of woman." After marrying, the couple moved to the United States where Ms Vaillancourt and her six siblings were born. Ms Vaillancourt's last memories of her mother are from her teenage years. Her parents divorced when she was young and she lived with Dorothy until she was a teen. Dorothy remarried to a man named Hermann Hess and the family moved into a home in Marin County in California. Ms Vaillancourt said she lost contact with her mother after a violent altercation in the family home in which she alleges she and her brother were physically attacked by their stepfather. It propelled Ms Vaillancourt to move in with her father in 1965. While still in her teens, Ms Vaillancourt "tried to actively find out where [her mother] was, what happened [to her] … we were all trying to find out". But she said there was "nothing, it was just … a big dead end". "So, we naturally thought she was with the stepfather." Ms Vaillancourt now realises her mother's absence from her life is explained by her death. The ripple effect of Dorothy's identification is being felt among relatives in Tasmania. Penelope's second cousin Danielle Williams "went to work" tracking down her US relatives after learning the news of Dorothy's identification. Months earlier, with time on her hands in retirement, Penelope Vaillancourt had decided to do a mail-in DNA kit out of curiosity and joined an ancestry website. Ms Williams "made the link" to Ms Vaillancourt on the website after extensive research starting with Dorothy's marriage. "Once I had her married name, I then searched [Dorothy's marriage to Francois], and found his obituaries and grave notices, and I found the names of some of his children." For Ms Williams, discovering Ms Vaillancourt fills in a piece of a puzzle that is still missing many parts. "My dad [Graham] really didn't know anything much about his dad's side of the family," Ms Wiliams said. "What we did know is that Dad had an aunt that had gone missing after the war. "What we — Dad and my siblings and I — 'knew' is that Dorothy had married a soldier, went to America and then was never heard from again. "Which as we now know isn't exactly what happened." Ms Williams said her grandfather was absent for large periods of her father's childhood and that Graham only occasionally saw him in adulthood. "For us, my dad especially, there's been some pleasure in finding family connections we never knew we had," Ms Williams said. Marin County Sheriff's Office and Othram were contacted for comment. Dozens of Jane and John Doe cases have been solved in the US using technology developed by Othram since Dorothy's identification. It has left families either reeling or at peace with news about a family member. For Ms Vaillancourt, it has meant she could visit the location where her mother's body was found and family could leave flowers at Dorothy's now identified gravesite in San Rafael. But the circumstances of her death leave Ms Vaillancourt deeply disturbed and upset. "I don't have answers to anything … I hate it so much, I really do."
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Remains ID'd, found in 1982 in Loxahatchee near serial killer Christopher Wilder's property
One of the most diabolical killers in history roamed Florida and Palm Beach County in the 1970s and '80s before he ended it all in a cross-country killing spree that took nine lives. Race car driver and wealthy business owner Christopher Wilder of Boynton Beach went on a seven-week rampage in 1984, abducting 12 women, most from shopping malls posing as a fashion photographer and promising to help them establish a modeling career. He had come to South Florida in 1969, escaping as the top suspect from Australian authorities about the rape and killings of two 15-year-old girls on a Sydney beach. In Palm Beach County, authorities arrested him on rape charges, but he was acquitted in 1977. Then he was arrested again 1980 on the same charges but got a deal that put him on probation. More: Hulu to air show on Christopher Wilder of Boynton Beach who killed 9 in a nationwide rampage Wilder is suspected in other disappearances and killings from Florida, including two women whose remains were found near property he owned in Loxahatchee. The remains of one wasnn't identified until 2024. Here are some other crimes that law enforcement believe he may have committed. Wilder owned several acres of property in Loxahatchee, including one off F Road, close to where the remains of two women have been found. Nearby skeletal remains were discovered in a green nylon bag on May 29, 1982, in the 300 block of F Road north of Southern Boulevard. The remains were not identified until 2013 when the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office looked at dental records, finding they belonged to 17-year-old Tina Marie Beebe. Beebe was last seen on Jan. 20, 1981, in Fort Myers, when she told her sister that a man had offered her a job as a model. The sheriff's office believes Beebe was killed. With Beebe's remains were a digital watch and earrings of U.S. pennies minted in 1979. In another Loxahatchee case, a real estate agent inspecting land nearby on Dec. 19, 1982, found the decomposed remains of a female dispersed through thick bush in woods 140 yards north of Okeechobee Boulevard off F Road. She had been shot in the head. In August 2024, authorities identified the remains through DNA and genetic genealogy as those of 37-year-old Leona Jean Keller, known as "jewelry mom" because of the pieces found with her body, according to a news release from Othram, a company that does that kind of work. The jewelry included a white metal "Benrus" brand wristwatch, two diamond rings, one white metal diamond pinky ring and a 10 karat ladies yellow metal cocktail ring with four baguette diamonds. Also found was a necklace with yellow metal mariner's anchor pendant. Keller hailed from Philadelphia but married her husband in Broward County in 1976, Florida marriage records show. Shari Lynne Ball, 20, of Boca Raton told relatives that she was leaving to pursue a modeling career. She called a friend two days later from a truck stop in Ashland, Virginia, then went missing on June 17, 1983. A hunter found her decomposed body in Shelby, New York, on Oct. 29, 1983, but she wasn't identified until 2014. A cold-case investigator said her slaying was consistent with 'Wilder's method of operations.' About 35 miles away, a body had been discovered four years earlier in Caledonia, New York, on Nov. 10, 1979. The teen was found shortly after her death but wasn't identified until 2015 as Tammy Jo Alexander, 16, who had vanished from Brooksville, Florida, in 1979. She had been wearing an Auto Sports Products jacket, a brand Wilder had been fond of. The .38-caliber bullet found beneath her could be used in .357-caliber revolvers, like one that Wilder used to kill himself. Mary Opitz, 17, went missing in Fort Myers on Jan. 16, 1981. She was last seen leaving the Edison Mall on her way to the parking lot. Opitz was shopping with her mother and brother. She told them she was tired and was heading back to the car. When her mother went back, Mary's bag of pretzels and other bags were found on top of the trunk, but there was no Mary. She was last seen wearing two gold bracelets, a gold necklace with a charm. She had braces on her teeth, which she had expected to have removed in weeks. Another girl who resembled Opitz, 18-year-old Mary Elizabeth Hare, disappeared about a month later on Feb. 11, 1981, from the same parking area near the Woolworth's. Hare had come to pick up her mother, who worked at the mall, but they never met up. The Edison Community College student had picked up her mother there several times before. Hare's green Buick was found at the mall, doors unlocked and keys missing. Hare's body was found in June 1981 in a remote, undeveloped area of Lehigh Acres. The last time Tammy Lynn Leppert, 18, of Rockledge was seen was on July 6, 1983, while she argued with a male friend. The friend was never considered a suspect in her disappearance. But Wilder at one point was. Her mother sued him before he died in Concord, New Hampshire, on April 13, 1984, but dropped the suit afterward. Linda Curtis claimed Leppert, once a contestant in more than 300 beauty pageants, had met Wilder on the set of the movie "Spring Break" in Fort Lauderdale. The aspiring actress and model had a short appearance in the movie "Scarface," according to Curtis said he traveled to Brevard County in an attempt to convince Leppert to let him photograph her. Police were not able to link her to Wilder. Holly Baltz is investigations editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Serial killer Christopher Wilder suspected in unsolved Florida deaths
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Skull found on California beach three decades ago connected to missing teacher
A human skull discovered on a California beach in 1993 has been identified as belonging to a beloved schoolteacher who vanished without a trace in 1987. The decades-old case breakthrough came after advanced DNA testing matched the skull to 48-year-old Kay Josephine Medin through a sample provided by her daughter. The identification was made possible by the forensic genealogy firm Othram, which specializes in solving cold cases using DNA analysis, KRCR reported. 'This week, Josephine Medin's loved ones got the answers they've needed for 32 years since her disappearance. I hope this discovery helps them find peace and closure,' US Representative Jared Huffman wrote on X. Medin, a teacher at Hyampom School, was last seen on August 3, 1987, when her husband, Nickolas Medin, returned home from a work trip to find her missing. Her purse and other 'personal property' were found at the residence, suggesting she had intended to return. However, despite extensive searches by local volunteers in the rugged terrain surrounding their home, there was no sign of the missing schoolteacher. Several months later, in November 1987, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) received an anonymous package containing some of Medin's skeletal remains. The package also included an anonymous letter directing investigators to additional remains near Ammon Ridge Road in eastern Humboldt County - about 45 miles from her home. In February of 1993, the Fortuna Police Department contacted the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office to report the discovery of a woman's partial human skull found on the beach near Trinidad Head - about 100 miles from Medin's home. Pictured: Trinidad Beach in Humboldt County, California The remains were positively identified through dental records, but the cause of her death remained undetermined and no suspects were arrested. A death certificate was later issued for Medin in 1988, however, she remained listed as a missing person as there was not a complete body recovery. Years later, in February of 1993, the Fortuna Police Department contacted the HCSO to report the discovery of a woman's partial human skull found on the beach near Trinidad Head - about 100 miles from Medin's home. The mysterious skull however remained unidentified until recent DNA testing confirmed its identity. The circumstances of how the beloved teacher's remains were dispersed over such a wide area remain unclear, and her death has since been considered a homicide. Authorities have stated that Medin's husband, who reported her missing, is not considered a suspect, as he died in 2018. The case was only reopened after Huffman secured federal funding to help clear a backlog of unidentified remains cases. Using these funds, the HCSO submitted the mysterious skull to Othram's lab in The Woodlands, Texas, to determine if DNA testing could yield new information. Several months later, Othram provided investigators with new leads, including the possible identity of the skull's owner. The discovery led to a follow-up investigation and the identification of a potential relative. The California Department of Justice compared the relative's DNA to the profile developed from the skull, confirming it belonged to Kay Josephine Medin - also known as Kay Adams at the time she was reported missing in 1987, according to Investigators continue to seek answers in the hopes of uncovering the truth behind Medin's disappearance and death. Anyone with information is urged to contact Humboldt County Investigator Mike Fridley at 707-441-3024.
