The Monterey Police Department, in conjunction with the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Task Force, asked for the public’s help in identifying human remains found in 2010.
Police found the lower half of a human leg on a beach in Monterey on Dec. 30, 2010. The leg, which was intact below the knee, appeared to have been in the ocean for several weeks.
The department has been working with Othram, a private forensics lab based in Texas to conduct special testing to try and identify the heritage and background of the person the remains belonged to.
Initial results tentatively identified the leg belonging to a Southeast Asian male, possibly Vietnamese, Cambodian or Laotian between 20 and 50 years old.
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A DNA sample from the leg was uploaded to the California Department of Justice’s Missing and Unidentified Persons Section DNA database, but no matches were found. To police, this meant no known missing person’s report could be matched to the leg.
Since then, the police have been working with the District Attorney’s Cold Case Task Force, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office, California Department of Justice and Othram to help conduct additional DNA testing.
Othram started Forensic Genetic Genealogy in 2023, the use of DNA analysis and traditional genealogy research to help identify investigative leads in both unidentified human remains cases and violent crimes.
If potential family members are located, police can use a DNA comparison to confirm the identity. This will also help police determine how the remains ended up in Monterey Bay and the circumstances surrounding their presumed death.
Anyone with information regarding the investigation is encouraged to contact Monterey Police Department Cold Case Investigator Bill Clark, assigned to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Task Force at (831) 646-3971, or email at bclark@monterey.org.