A family gets closure after 3 decades: Remains found near Hoover Dam identified as missing man
The Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office could not say how he died because of the condition of his remains. He may have died between 2006 and 2008.
The remains of a Michigan man last seen nearly 30 years ago have been identified, although investigators still aren't sure how the man died.
The remains were found near the Hoover Dam in 2009, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona. It wasn't until October 2024 that the remains were finally identified as those of William Herman Hietamaki, a man who lived in Trout Creek, an area in Michigan’s western upper peninsula.
The Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office could not say how he died because of the condition of his remains. According to authorities, he may have died between 2006 and 2008, when he was between 56 and 58 years old, the sheriff’s office announced in a news release Tuesday afternoon. The sheriff’s office also said the man suffered from epileptic seizures.
Workers found missing man's body near Hoover Dam
In November 2009, two workers pouring cement took a break at Milepost 3 near the Hoover Dam and noticed what looked like a bone. The men searched the area and found more bones, learning they were human.
They told their supervisor, who reached out to National Park Service agents. A police officer in the area also told the sheriff’s office what happened.
Investigators kept looking and found other items such as sun-bleached blue jeans, a damaged white towel, a sun-bleached red t-shirt, a black shoe and a green sleeping bag, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators gave the items to the Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Detectives tried to identify the individual the remains belonged to, but they had no leads.
Relaunching the search for the missing man’s identity
In February 2022, 12 years after the remains were found, the medical examiner’s office took a bone sample from the victim and gave it to a detective from the sheriff’s office.
The detective submitted the sample to the Arizona DPS lab, asking that the lab create a DNA profile and submit it to the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS. CODIS is a forensic and computer technology system that allows labs to compare DNA profiles. Investigators use the system to connect crimes through DNA.
A sample from the victim was also sent to the University of North Texas, where a DNA sample was extracted and stored. Still, investigators were unable to identify the victim, the sheriff’s office said in its news release.
In April 2024, a Texas-based genetic lab called Othram contacted investigators from the sheriff’s office and said they’d received funding to pay for forensic genetic genealogy. This process would allow Othram to identify the victim.
The DNA sample from the University of North Texas was sent to Othram, allowing the lab to create a DNA profile. Othram investigators uploaded the DNA profile to a genealogy database, the sheriff’s office said.
In October, sheriff’s office investigators received a report that the victim’s ancestors were born in the mid-1800’s and lived in Michigan.
Investigators were able to find relatives of the victim and interview them. That’s when they found out that the siblings of the man hadn’t seen him since 1995, and he had been traveling in the southwest United States. Detectives were finally able to identify the victim as Hietamaki once they tested the DNA of his suspected relatives.
Missing man ‘lived a nomadic lifestyle’
Hietamaki went by his middle name, Herman, and went to high school in Michigan. Once he graduated, he went to mechanic’s school and then left Michigan to travel.
“He was known to hitchhike to various locations and lived a nomadic lifestyle,” the sheriff’s office said about him in the news release.
His family last saw him in 1995 when he went to visit his sister in New Mexico, the sheriff's office said. He also spent time living in Las Vegas at some point.
'Family now has closure'
The sheriff’s office said in its news release that identifying Hietamaki would not have happened without the funding Othram received to research the victim and test his DNA.
“Hietamaki’s family now has closure due to (Othram’s) dedication in identifying John and Jane Does,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.