Donations Sought to Help Identify 2014 Lolo Nat’l Forest Remains

For all the Dateline and Cold Case shows I've watched over the years, I don't think I've ever seen them mention anything like this. It's basically a GoFundMe type of page that's been started with the hopes that donations will help identify skeletal remains found in the Lolo National Forest and possibly solve a case.

According to a Facebook post from the Missoula County Sheriff's Office - a hiker found human remains in Welcome Creek Wilderness while backpacking in 2014.  The Granite County Sheriff began an investigation and confirmed the person was a male backpacker, about six feet tall, and most likely between the ages of 30-45. But they weren't able to confirm an ID. The case has remained open and now the call is out to help fill in the missing pieces for the backpacker that was found but never identified.

The Granite County Sheriff's Office and the Missoula County Sheriff's Office have teamed up with Othram, Inc. for DNA testing to solve the mystery of the John Doe that was found almost seven years ago. An online fundraiser is active and accepting donations to help cover the cost of testing for the case. Details on the donation site list Othram as: "the world’s first private DNA laboratory built specifically to apply the power of modern parallel sequencing to forensic evidence. Othram’s scientists are experts at recovery, enrichment, and analysis of human DNA from trace quantities of degraded or contaminated materials."

The goal of the fundraiser is set at $5,000 and as I write this they've raised just over $500. Hopefully the additional testing will help identify the remains - and possibly provide a bit of closure to a family that doesn't know what happened to a loved one.

If you're interested - you can donate HERE.