Police identify man in 31-year John Doe cold case in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin
Wisconsin investigators on Tuesday revealed a significant break in a 31-year murder mystery of a man with ties to Chicago.
On Aug. 27, 1993, a photographer found decomposed remains of a body with no identification along the Soo Line Railroad tracks in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., near the Illinois border. Those remains stayed publicly unidentified until Tuesday.
Through years of exhaustive DNA and anthropological analysis, investigators identified the man as Ronald Louis Dodge, 40, who had been shot.
Dodge was born on Dec. 27, 1952, on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Wis. Investigators said Dodge was married to Kathyrn Erickson and likely lived on the North Side of Chicago. Erickson died of natural causes in November 1993, according to Kenosha County Medical Examiner Patrice Hall.
Hall said she resumed her investigation in 2014 after she received the man's skull from police as evidence.
The following year, the skull was sent to the University of North Texas for further analysis, and DNA was extracted.
In June 2016, an anthropologist determined that the body belonged to a male between the ages of 40 and 60—possibly Hispanic, Native American, Caucasian, or a mix of all three.
The University of Michigan reconstructed the skull in 2017, and those images were released to the public.
Dodge's brother Allen saw those images in June 2023, contacted Hall, and told her he believed it was his brother.
He said Ronald Dodge had been missing since May 9, 1993.
Dodge's remains were exhumed from St. John Cemetery in Randall, Wis., in September 2023.
After extensive DNA analysis of the remains and samples from family members, Ronald Dodge's identity was confirmed in May 2024.
Hall said this case was the most difficult to solve in her 20-year career. Investigators were challenged further because the pool of available DNA in national databases was so small for Native Americans.
"I am humbled to have the honor to give Ronald his name back, bringing his remains back to his family and giving the Dodge family answers they have been looking for all these years," Hall said.
Dodge's remains were returned to the family in June.
"They know that he's home and back with his relatives," Hall said.
Police are now looking for anybody who recalls Dodge from his time in Chicago.
"As in any police investigation, once you start developing leads, those leads develop additional information." Pleasant Prairie Police Chief David Smetana said. "You can't start an investigation without knowing who the individual was. It helps to develop a circle of friends and acquaintances."
NamUs (the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System), the Michigan State Police Crime Lab, the DNA Doe Project, and Forensic Anthropologist Dr.Janamarie Truesdell assisted in the case.
Anyone with any information that might prove helpful in the Pleasant Prairie Police Department's renewed homicide investigation is encouraged to contact the department at 262-948-8910 or by email at tips@pleasantprairiewi.gov. Anonymous tips may also be submitted to Kenosha Area Crime Stoppers at 262-656-7333 or 800-807-8477.
