VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The Volusia Sheriff’s Office is asking locals with backgrounds similar to a 1982 French-Canadian “John Doe” to provide DNA samples in an attempt to identify him.
In a collaboration with FHD Forensics, the sheriff’s office shared a bulletin to social media calling on those with French-Canadian or Irish-Canadian ancestry to help identify the man, whose skeletal remains were found in March 1982 by two boys camping in Ormond Beach.
Described as a White man about 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 150 pounds who was likely born between 1935 and 1947, his death was ruled suspicious given how he wasn’t wearing any clothing, jewelry or personal effects, according to Genealogy For Justice (G4J).
When the man’s DNA was sequenced in early 2024, it revealed his ancestral ties are French Canadian with deeper Irish-Canadian influence in both his maternal and parental ancestry, G4J’s website states.
He has genetic ties to Ontario, Quebec, Massachusetts, Illinois and Michigan, where it’s thought that he or his family before him may have lived before coming to Florida, the sheriff’s office said. The man’s distant ancestors include the surnames LeFevre, LaPoint, Bellenoit, Brosseau, Lerat and Desjardins, the agency’s post states.
Those who wish to learn more about contributing a DNA sample were asked to follow the links on G4J’s website.