Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office partners with Ramapo College IGG Center
MAHWAH, N.J. – Through DNA testing and investigative genetic genealogy, students at the Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center have discovered the identity of “Beavercreek John Doe,” now known as David Emil Jacobsen. He succeeded in revealing his identity.
In 2011, the body of a male subject was found near the Beaver Creek hiking area in Yavapai County, Arizona. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office investigation was hampered because the deceased did not have a wallet or identification to help identify him. More than 12 years have passed while he hoped for a match by NamUs or Cogent automated fingerprint recognition systems, but neither yielded results that would help identify Beaver Creek John Doe.
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Ramapo IGG has partnered with YCSO to provide free case support. John Doe's blood blot card was sent to Intermountain Forensic Medicine in Salt Lake City, Utah, for DNA extraction, whole genome sequencing, and bioinformatics. Intermountain successfully generated SNP profiles and uploaded them to DNA databases GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA.
Students in Ramapo College's Investigative Genealogy Certificate Program have discovered the most likely candidate to be David Emil Jacobsen. The discovery of the candidates resulted from a combination of genealogical research and the presence of unique circumstantial details observed by the students. “The case was difficult because John Doe had recent immigrants on both sides of his family tree,” said Kylen Binder, assistant director of the IGG Center at Ramapo College.
Mr. Jacobsen's identity was confirmed by the Yavapai County Coroner's Office through an MtDNA comparison from a DNA sample from one of his brothers. Mr. Jacobson died of natural causes due to heart complications.
“The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office appreciates the efforts of Ramapo College and the students' hard work in this effort. We look forward to working with them on other cases in the future.” Yavapai County Sheriff David Rose said.
