Students identify Chicago man 43 years after he was found dead in Wisconsin
RAMAPO, N.J. (CBS) -- Some New Jersey college students are being credited with solving a 43-year-old cold case with a Chicago connection.
On March 19, 1980, the body of a man was found in the snow in Pine Lake, Wisconsin, outside of Rhinelander – about 46 yards off Highway 17. There was no identification on the body.
A forensic autopsy conducted by the University of Wisconsin found the man had died from cold exposure due to hypothermia. Fingerprints went out to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab and the FBI, but that did not establish an identity – and the case remained open, and the investigation continued through missing persons reports and news releases.
In 2019, the man was entered into NamUs, a national database for missing and unidentified people around the country – but all the possible matches turned out to be negative.
In 2021, the Oneida County, Wisconsin Medical Examiner's office exhumed the man's body, and it was processed for DNA collection. The samples were sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico for profiling, investigators said.
In January of this year, the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at Ramapo College of New Jersey was asked to step in by the Oneida County, Wisconsin Sheriff's office to help identify "Rhinelander John Doe."
Using DNA from the man's lower jaw and a genome sequencing, the student investigators generated a profile to a DNA database – which led to a Chicago man named Norman Grasser.
It turned out that Grasser's brother had been searching for him for more than 40 years. Grasser had disappeared in Chicago on Jan. 20, 1980.
A Find-a-Grave page put up by Grasser's brother indicated that Grasser was 31 when he vanished, and showed a headstone that had been set for Grasser even though his body had not been found.
The Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center says it is the first of its kind in the country. It opened in December of last year.