Remains found near bridge in 1992 ID’d, ending decades-long mystery, OR cops say

Workers clearing brush near an Oregon bridge made a grim discovery more than three decades ago: “the fully skeletonized remains of a man.”

For decades, the man found near St. Johns Bridge in North Portland in 1992 had no identity, Oregon State Police said in an Oct. 13 news release.

But now, thanks to help from DNA testing, the man has been identified as Bryant Edward Deane, who is believed to have been 39 years old when he died, police said.

Case grows cold

After the workers found the remains, the medical examiner’s office took up the case, police said.

Examinations by a forensic pathologist and forensic anthropologist showed the man was nearly 50 years old and stood between 5 feet, 2 inches and 5 feet, 5 inches tall, troopers said.

The examinations also determined the man likely walked with a limp, based on the “arthritic changes, several fractures (and) a marked difference in leg length,” according to police.

The man, who was believed to have been dead for a year before he was discovered, had more pronounced fractures on his left side, “suggesting the decedent may have fallen from the bridge or been struck by a vehicle and thrown from the bridge,” police said.

Investigators, however, could not determine a cause or manner of death, troopers said.

With no leads, “the case went cold,” police said.

Though investigators made some progress, troopers said the case had no significant breakthroughs in the absence of genetic genealogy.

The man’s profile was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in 2011, police said.

NamUs, a “national repository for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases,” serves as a resource for “law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, and investigating professionals,” according to the program’s website.

His DNA profile was also entered into the Combined DNA Index System, police said.

CODIS is “a computer software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons,” according to the Department of Justice.

Even still, no matches were found, according to police.

In 2019, more comprehensive DNA profiles were entered into CODIS but still yielded no matches, police said.

Genetic genealogy leads to ID

Five years later, police said investigators looked to advanced DNA testing in hopes of identifying the remains, partnering with DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit that says it aims to identify “John and Jane Does using investigative genetic genealogy.”

Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.

The nonprofit said volunteer genetic genealogists began digging into the case, soon learning the man “had deep roots in Franklin County, Massachusetts.”

Though answers seemed within reach, challenges arose, the nonprofit said in a news release.

“While our initial impression was that this case could be quite straightforward, we quickly realized that was not the case,” Eric Hendershott, a team co-leader, said in the release.

For the next five months, the nonprofit said its team built out the man’s family tree, which grew to include “nearly 20,000 people, tracing family trees back as far as 16th century England.”

“Finally, a connection was made between two of the key families of interest – a couple who’d married in Northfield, Massachusetts in 1951,” the nonprofit said.

Additional research showed one of the couple’s children, Bryant Deane, vanished from public record, the nonprofit said.

Though the unidentified man’s estimated age was greater than Deane’s in 1992, the nonprofit said its team pushed ahead.

The medical examiner’s office spoke with the man’s possible brother, who said he had not spoken with Deane “since the mid-to-late 1970s,” police said.

The brother gave a DNA sample, which was tested, confirming the remains belonged to Deane, according to police.

“This case was cold for 33 years,” Hailey Collord-Stalder, forensic anthropologist with the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office, said in the release. “Bryant’s parents passed in 2017 and 2019, respectively, never knowing what happened to their son. His family left a space for him on their headstone; now he can finally be laid to rest with his family.”

In the nonprofit’s release, team lead Jeana Feehery said the case was one “where one small DNA match helped fill in the connections that our higher matches could not.”

“This highlights how even distant relatives of Does can help us solve cases — every piece of the puzzle is important,” Feehery said.