Overview
- A researcher found skeletal remains inside a sleeping bag in a tent in the Sol Duc River drainage of Olympic National Park in July 2000, and those remains have now been linked to Joseph Louis Serrao Jr.
- Investigators sent a DNA sample from the bones to forensic genealogy lab Othram in 2024, which identified possible relatives by 2025 and led to the match confirmed by the National Park Service on June 10.
- At the time of the original recovery, the King County Medical Examiner estimated the decedent was a male about 30 to 50 years old and had been dead for months to years, and fingerprint attempts then produced no usable prints.
- Family members told investigators Serrao was from Hawaii and that they last heard from him in 1998, and officials say relatives in multiple states provided voluntary reference DNA that helped confirm the identification.
- Officials say the case shows how advanced DNA sequencing and genealogical analysis, combined with sustained collaboration across the park service, medical examiners and private labs, can resolve cold identifications even when cause and circumstances remain unknown.