SEATTLE, WA — Officials say forensic testing has identified human remains discovered 26 years after the man was last known to be alive. The remains had been found in a sleeping bag in the backcountry of Olympic National Park in Washington state.
The man was Joseph Louis Serrao Jr., whose family said he had been living in Washington before he disappeared in 1998. Relatives told the forensic lab Othram they had not heard from him since that year.
How the remains were found
A researcher came across skeletal remains in July 2000 in a remote area of the park near the Sol Duc River, according to the National Park Service. The sleeping bag was inside a tent, and investigators also found binoculars, a day-hiker pack, a shoulder bag, a folding saw, a blanket and winter gear.
A Washington King County medical examiner initially estimated the dead man was between 30 and 50 years old and had died sometime between six months and two years earlier.
Why the case stayed open
Investigators later determined Serrao, born in December 1960, would have been in his late 30s when he died. But there were no usable fingerprints and not enough physical evidence at the time to move the case forward.
That left his identity unknown for many years, even as authorities continued to hold the case open.
The DNA breakthrough
The case advanced in 2024 when an anthropologist with the medical examiner’s office sent a DNA sample to Othram. Using forensic genealogy, the lab began narrowing the search to possible relatives by 2025.
Investigators then contacted family members in several states, including Hawaii, and compared DNA samples from relatives with DNA taken from the remains.
What investigators say now
The matching samples confirmed the remains were Serrao’s, bringing an end to a mystery that had lasted nearly three decades. Park Service officials said investigators and King County authorities worked with the lab throughout the identification effort.
Debra Flowers, deputy chief of the park service’s criminal investigative division, said the team never stopped trying to identify the person and hoped the result would bring some closure to Serrao’s family.
Riders Times covers the Pacific Northwest, one story at a time.
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