A man was found dead in California river 25 years ago, cops say. His ID is now known
As a father and son were boating on a California river in search of driftwood 25 years ago, they spotted something in the water.
They found what they believed to be human remains, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said in a March 2 news release.
The sheriff’s office said it recovered the body, but despite decades of investigation, the man’s identity would remain a mystery.
Twenty-five years after he was found in the Eel River near Cock Robin Island, however, the man has regained his name — Jeffery Todd Sydow, the sheriff’s office said.
When his body was found in March 1998, he had no identification on him, the sheriff’s office said. He was partially clothed and “in advanced stages of decomposition.”
An autopsy showed that the man’s body had likely been in the water for a month and that his cause of death was “possible drowning,” deputies said.
The man’s “description did not match any reported missing persons from Northern California,” the sheriff’s office said.
The California Department of Justice did recover “one latent fingerprint,” the sheriff’s office said. However, when it was run through the Automated Latent Print System, there were no matches.
A dentist also did a “forensic dental examination,” according to deputies.
Though a DNA sample was obtained, it never matched any profiles in the California Missing Persons DNA Database or in a national DNA index system, the sheriff’s office said.
In December, the sheriff’s office said it partnered with Othram, a forensic genealogy company, to see if “advanced forensic DNA testing” could be used to identify the man.
A DNA sample from the remains was sent to Othram, which “used forensic genome sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the man,” the sheriff’s office said. From there, the company turned to forensic genetic genealogy for leads.
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.
In mid-February, Othram determined the DNA might belong to Sydow, who was born in 1963, and that he had several relatives, including a possible sister in Missouri, the sheriff’s office said.
After speaking with the potential sister, the woman confirmed she had a brother named Jeffery Todd Sydow, deputies said.
The woman told detectives her brother stopped speaking with his family “for unknown reasons,” the sheriff’s office said. Though the sister tried to reach out to Sydow, she could not find him.
Sydow’s family, who last spoke with him in the mid-1990s, was unsure if he intentionally lost contact with them, so they never reported him missing, deputies said.
Sydow’s fingerprint was also a match for the one latent print found decades ago, the sheriff’s office said.
His family is now making arrangements to have his “remains released for burial with other deceased family members,” the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office asked for anyone with information about Sydow’s activities or whereabouts before his death to call investigator Mike Fridley at 707-441-3024.
This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 12:49 PM with the headline "A man was found dead in California river 25 years ago, cops say. His ID is now known."
