Man found dead at Seattle park in 1984 identified by fingerprints

SEATTLE — A family now has answers after the King County Medical Examiner’s Office helped identify a man whose body was found at a Seattle park more than three decades ago.

The King County Sheriff’s Office said in 1984, the body of a young man was found at Carkeek Park but the medical examiner was unable to identify him. He became a John Doe.

According to Public Health of Seattle and King County, a woman from out of state started to investigate what happened to her uncle after he disappeared in the early 1980s.

She contacted Dr. Kathy Taylor at the King County Medical Examiner’s Office to see if she could help.

The Sheriff’s Office said extracting DNA was not possible in this case, but the medical examiner’s office was able to obtain a full set of fingerprints.

Taylor asked the family if they had kept letters, and the man’s sister had kept a letter he sent in 1981.

After Taylor's office processed the letter, two prints matched the prints of the unidentified man.

“The King County Medical Examiner’s Office never gives up on identifying the unidentified,” said Taylor. “Every person deserves to have their name restored after death, and every family of a missing person deserves to know what happened to their loved one.”

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