Human jawbone found by child rock collector in Arizona is finally identified as marine who died over 70 years ago in California – but how it got there remains a mystery…

A human jawbone found by a child rock collector in Arizona has finally been identified more than seventy years later, but how it got there remains a mystery.

DNA testing showed that the bone belonged to U.S. Navy Captain Everett Leland Yager, who was killed in an air crash during a military training exercise over Riverside County, California, in July 1951.

His remains were subsequently recovered and buried in Palmyra, Missouri – or so it was believed until now.

“No one knows exactly how the jawbone ended up in Arizona since the accident occurred in the skies over California,” experts said at a Ramapo College of New Jersey press release.

‘One theory is that a scavenger, such as a bird, picked it up and eventually deposited it during its travels through Arizona. Plans are being made to reunite the remains with the family.”

It was believed the bone was found by a child rock collector in Arizona, but how it got there is a mystery.

“Fast forward years later to a kid who wanted to build a collection of rocks, and expanded that collection by one during a search, probably in Arizona. But it wasn’t a rock; it was a human jawbone,” said Lisa A. Ambrose, spokesperson for Ramapo College in New Jersey.

When the ‘stone’ was turned over to the authorities, it was given the name ‘Rock Collection John Doe’.

The case was later turned over to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and the Yavapai County Medical Examiner.

In January 2023, the office sought help in attempting to solve the mystery of its origins.

Through the joint efforts of the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center and the North Texas Center for Human Identification, DNA testing was conducted.

The bone was eventually identified as belonging to U.S. Marine Corps Captain Everett Leland Yager, confirmed by comparison with a DNA sample from his daughter.

“It wasn’t until March 2024 that the DNA sample from Captain Yager’s daughter confirmed a parent-child relationship, solving the case and confirming that Rock Collection John Doe was indeed Captain Everett Leland Yager,” Ambrose said.

This case involved the youngest person known to contribute to a genetic genealogy research case that was solved.

“This case was a lesson in expecting the unexpected, and a testament to the power of IGG education at Ramapo College in New Jersey,” said Cairenn Binder, associate director of the Ramapo College IGG Center, in the news release.

“The team that worked on this case during our IGG boot camp included some truly outstanding investigators, and we are so proud of them for helping to repatriate Captain Yager’s remains and return them to his family. ‘

Earlier this month, the remains of a Black sailor who died during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor more than 80 years later were finally identified.

David Walker was 19 when he left his African-American high school in Norfolk, Virginia, to serve as a canteen attendant in the segregated Navy.

He was on the battleship USS California, moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was hit by two Japanese torpedoes and sank in the opening minutes of the infamous attack on December 7, 1941.

Walker was one of 103 victims who died on the USS California that day – more than 50 of whom were African-American cafeteria workers, cooks and stewards.

Last month, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that they had finally located and identified Walker’s remains.

Walker’s closest surviving relative, his cousin Cheryle Stone, who was born 30 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, told DailyMail.com earlier this month that it was “heartbreaking” that his mother was no longer able to experience this moment after she stopped the search for him. never gave up. .

The remains of those aboard the USS California were recovered and buried at Halawa and Nu’uanu cemeteries between December 1941 and April 1942.

During the first round of identification after the attack, 42 ​​victims were named.

In September 1947, the American Graves Registration Service exhumed the victims’ remains and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks.

But laboratory personnel at that time could only confirm the identification of 39 men from the USS California.

The unidentified remains were then buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

And in 1949, a military council ruled that the remains of the unresolved crew members, including Walker, could not be recovered.

But in 2018, the DPAA exhumed the remains of 25 unidentified sailors from the Punchbowl.

Through anthropological, dental and mitochondrial DNA analysis, forensic scientists from the DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System were able to identify Walker’s remains in November 2023.

Walker’s name is one of many missing soldiers engraved on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl in Hawaii. Now that he has been settled, there will be a rosette next to his name.

Walker will be buried on September 5, 2024 at Arlington National Cemetery.