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Authorities Release Reconstructed Image Of Man Found Dead And Wrapped In Quilt, Hoping To Crack John Doe Cold Case
The victim's bound body was found buried in a shallow grave near Colorado State Highway 114, and all his teeth were missing.
Authorities in Colorado have used advanced technology to create a likeness of an unidentified man who was murdered more than 15 years ago, and whose killer has never been found.
The man in question was found dead in Saguache County on Oct. 19, 2002, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in a release issued last week. Authorities with the CBI and the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office recovered the body in an area near Colorado State Highway 114; the man was wrapped in a blanket or quilt of some kind, and appeared to be between the ages of 40 and 60. He is believed to have been 6'5" tall and weighing between 225 and 300 pounds. When he was found, the victim was wearing black boxers and a black Harley Davidson T-shirt advertising Fort Washington, Maryland, authorities said. The autopsy showed that he was murdered.
The image, completed by a forensic artist, shows a bald man with a slight mustache. The victim is believed to have been a white male with brown hair, according to a missing persons profile on the CBI’s cold case database.
The Saguache County John Doe was shot twice in the head, according to The Doe Network, an online resource and nonprofit organization created to help bring attention to missing persons cases around the world. He was also found without teeth and no dentures were found nearby. He was wrapped in a quilt, which was then wrapped in a black plastic bag, tied with duct tape, and buried in a shallow grave; a local hunter later found the remains in a ravine, according to the website.
The victim did not have any tattoos or scars that would help in identifying him, making it even harder for authorities to figure out who he was. Still, investigators have continued to search for answers for years.
“Unfortunately, there was no identification, vehicles, or information located with the remains that would not only help investigators to identify the victim, but also locate the person(s) responsible for his murder,” Saguache County Sheriff Dan Warwick told the Center Post Dispatch in 2019. “It’s a case that the sheriff’s office has actively worked over the years, and I am hopeful someone will come forward to provide a key piece of information to help solve this case.”
Authorities hope that the release of the facial recognition photo may help bring about a break in the case.
“We are hoping the updated digital reconstruction images will result in new information that will lead to the identification of this individual and to help solve this case,” CBI Deputy Director Chris Schaefer said in the office’s release.
Those with any information on the Saguache County John Doe are encouraged to call the CBI at 719-647-5999 or the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office at 719-655-2525.
