Unidentified man found in Columbus ID’d 25 years after his death
COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH) — After more than two decades of investigating, the Columbus Police Department has finally closed the case of an unidentified man found dead in 1999.
On Jan. 30, 1999, Columbus police officers were called to a deceased man being found alongside Jonathan Moore Pike near Carr Hill Road.
The man was believed to be in his 50s or 60s. His cause of death was ruled as suicide.
Police found two handguns on the man, but did not have any identification. CPD enlisted the help of the Bartholomew County Sheriff and prosecutor’s offices, but were met with decades of dead-ends. E
Eventually, investigators requested assistance of Othram, a Texas-based organization that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy.
Through the years, investigators tried multiple way to try and identify the man, including running his fingerprints, asking for the public’s assistance in news releases, sending bulletins to regional law enforcement, and entering his descriptors into nationwide missing person databases.
The FBI also recreated a photo of what the man looked like when he was living, but that did not lead to his identification.
But in recent years, a method of testing called genetic genealogy was developed. The technique allows investigators to identify potential family members through DNA already registered in various systems.
Investigators believed that method was the only way to identify the man and bring closure to his family.
After sending in a sample of the man’s DNA to Texas, leads were generated that pointed officers to north-central Ohio. There, the man’s nephew identified him from the FBI’s photo and then provided his own DNA to confirm their family relationship.
Through the family member, investigators finally identified the man as Leo Michael Murray of Ohio. He was who was 61 years old when he died.
Murray was never married or had children. According to police, he told his family he was moving to Florida before he disappeared, which is why his family never reported him missing.
CPD says it was very important to investigators to restore the man’s identiy and provide answers to his family.
Anyone who believes a loved one has gone missing is encouraged to report their disappearance to law enforcement for entry into a national database of missing people.
CPD says there is no minimum amount of time a person must be missing before they enter the person into a database.
Mental health resources
- Be Well Indiana
- Indiana Suicide Prevention
- Indiana Department of Child Services’ Children’s Mental Health Initiative
- National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988 or 800-273-8255
- More resources