After almost five decades, the skeletal remains discovered in Arizona in 1975 have been identified as those of Gerald Francis Long, a Vietnam veteran from Minnesota. Following initial investigations, detectives were unable to determine the identity of the deceased, who became known as Munsingwear Doe due to the Munsingwear brand jacket found with the remains. In August 2023, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office employed forensic genetic genealogy, collaborating with Intermountain Forensics of Salt Lake City, Utah, to develop a genetic genealogy DNA profile, which was then compared against genealogy database profiles. This led forensic investigators to identify a potential family line, and by February, Long emerged as a strong possibility. Detectives subsequently contacted one of Long’s surviving relatives, who confirmed that Long had served in the US Army during Vietnam, having enlisted in January 1969 and deployed later that year. Previously released information stated that Long’s cause of death remained unknown. The sheriff’s office reported that Long returned to Minnesota in February 1972, where he was discharged from the Army a month later. He informed his family in October 1972 that he was moving to the west coast, and this was the last communication he had with them. With fresh insights, the FBI Laboratory’s Latent Print Unit matched partial fingerprints extracted from the remains in 1975 to those belonging to Long, while DNA extracted from Long’s family was also found to be a match with that obtained from the remains. Regrettably, despite these revelations, Long’s cause of death still remains undetermined. “The Sheriff’s Office offers its deepest condolences to Mr. Long’s family, who have requested privacy at this time,” the sheriff’s office remarked.
In another development, police in California revealed that a man named Larry Welch was responsible for the brutal murder of Danielle Clause, whose body was discovered on a hillside near Ventura in July 1991. By employing advanced forensic genetic genealogy techniques, the Ventura Police Department declared that Welch, who passed away in 1999, was identified as the perpetrator, providing a “pivotal moment in resolving this long-standing mystery”. Clause’s spouse had alerted authorities when she failed to return home on the evening prior to her death, with an autopsy indicating she had suffered multiple blunt-force injuries to her head, having also been sexually assaulted. Despite efforts to solve the case, the investigation stalled until the police reexamined crime scene evidence in 2021, which yielded a DNA match to Welch. “The Sheriff’s Office offers its deepest condolences to Mr. Long’s family, who have requested privacy at this time,” the sheriff’s office said.
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