Human jawbone found by child rock collector in Arizona is identified

A human jawbone found by a child rock collector in Arizona has finally been identified over seven decades later - but how it got there remains a mystery. 

DNA testing revealed the bone belonged to US Marine Captain Everett Leland Yager, who was killed in an aerial accident during a military training exercise over Riverside County, California, in July 1951. 

His remains were subsequently recovered and laid to rest in Palmyra, Missouri - or so it was believed until now. 

'No one is quite sure how the jaw bone ended up in Arizona since the accident took place in the air over California,' experts said in 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 over Arizona. Plans are being made to reunite the remains with the family.'

The bone was believed to have been found by a child rock collector in Arizona, but how it got there is a mystery. 

'Fast forward years later to a child who wanted to build a rock collection, and increased said collection by one during a scavenging exploration, presumably in Arizona. But it was not a rock; it was a human jaw bone,' said Lisa A. Ambrose, a spokesperson for the Ramapo College of New Jersey.

When the 'rock' was turned over to the authorities, it was dubbed 'Rock Collection John Doe.' 

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

In January 2023, the office reached out for assistance while attempting to solve the mystery of its origins. 

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

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

'It was not until March 2024 that the DNA sample from Capt. Yager's daughter confirmed a parent/child relationship, resolving the case and confirming that Rock Collection John Doe was indeed Capt. Everett Leland Yager,' Ambrose said. 

This case involved the youngest person reportedly known to contribute to an investigative genetic genealogy case that was resolved. 

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

'The team that worked on this case at our IGG bootcamp included some truly outstanding researchers, 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 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor have finally been identified more than 80 years later.

David Walker was 19 when he dropped out of his African American high school in Norfolk, Virginia, to serve as a mess attendant in the segregated navy.

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

Walker was one of 103 casualties who died on the USS California that day - more than 50 of which were African American mess attendants, cooks, and stewards.

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

Walker's closest surviving relative, his cousin Cheryle Stone who was born 30 years after the Pearl Harbor attack, told DailyMail.com earlier this month that it was 'heartbreaking' his mother was not alive to witness this moment after never giving up the search for him.

The remains of those on board USS California were recovered between December 1941 and April 1942 and buried in the Halawa and Nu'uanu Cemeteries. 

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

In September 1947, the American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains of the casualties and transferred them to the Central Identification laboratory at Schofield Barracks.

But the laboratory staff were only able to confirm the identifications of 39 men from the USS California at that time.

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

And in 1949 a military board determined the remains of the unresolved crew members, including Walker, to be non-recoverable.

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

Through anthropological, dental analysis, 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 among the many missing soldiers engraved on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl in Hawaii. Now he has been accounted for, a rosette will be placed next to his name.

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