Authorities use DNA to identify skeletal remains found in south Sacramento storm drain
Authorities used DNA samples to identify the skeletal remains of a missing man who was found early last month by a county crew cleaning out a storm drain in south Sacramento.
The remains of Jack Larson, 60, were found in the storm drain along the 5300 block of Gordon Drive near Stockton Boulevard, according to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, which listed Larson’s initial classification of his death as “undetermined.”
Employees from the Sacramento County Department of Water Resources were clearing the storm drain on Dec. 8, when they found a shoe while unclogging their vacuum machine. The workers thought it was “a stick out of the muck that clogged the machine, “ according to a county news release.
The stick turned out to be a human leg bone and a foot, officials said. The water resources crew stopped and notified the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Water Resources Director Michael Peterson said his department partners with law enforcement agencies throughout the year as crews clean up drainage culverts and water pipes that run through homeless encampments.
“So when our crews came across human remains, while shaken up by their discovery, they kept their cool and knew to call the Sheriff’s Office for assistance,” Peterson said in the news release.
Sheriff’s detectives arrived at the scene and found what appeared to be another bone in the storm drain.
Deputies and a forensic pathologist from the Coroner’s Office also were called to the scene. The bones found were confirmed to be human. Coroner’s officials searched a second area of the storm drain and discovered more bones, according to the news release. Authorities determined the bones were almost a complete human skeleton.
Authorities also found a type of debit card with no name printed on it. Sheriff’s officials contacted the debit card company and learned the card belonged to a man reported missing; he was last seen in November 2018.
After seeing news reports of the skeletal remains found, Larson’s family called the Coroner’s Office to see if the remains belonged to him. Officials said Larson’s brother and daughter provided DNA samples to the Coroner’s Office, which matched them to DNA samples from the skeletal remains using the agency’s ANDE Rapid DNA instrument.
The Coroner’s Office has 73 active cases in which people who have died have not been identified. Officials said the Coroner’s Office needs help to identify them.
Authorities asked anyone who recognizes the description of any of these unidentified deceased persons in Sacramento County to call the Coroner’s Office at 916-874-9320.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 6:20 PM.
