In May of 1984, the skeletal remains of an unidentified individual were located on Silver Strand Beach in Oxnard, California, and reported to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office responded to the scene to investigate and collect the remains for analysis. The remains consisted of a human jawbone with teeth. The Medical Examiner determined that the jawbone belonged to an adult man, between the ages of 19 and 99 years old. In 2006, a DNA profile was entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) yielding no matches to missing persons. Despite this lengthy investigation, the man could not be identified and became known as Ventura County John Doe (1984). Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP15150.
Recently, the Ventura County Medical Examiner, provided the Ventura County Sheriff's Office forensic evidence to submit to Othram Labs, located in The Woodlands, Texas, to determine whether advanced DNA testing could help identify the man. Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the provided evidence and then used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the man.
Using this new information, a follow-up investigation was conducted leading investigators to a known case of a man who died at sea in 1978. Reference DNA samples were collected from a relative and compared to the DNA profile of the unidentified remains. This investigation led to the positive identification of the man, who is now known to be Donald Scott Reich, born December 16, 1944. Reich drowned in a boating accident in January 1978, and his body (missing a jawbone) was recovered after being found along the rocks of a jetty about a month later.
At the time he went missing, 33-year-old Reich was a professional organist who had recently married and moved to Ventura County. He worked at the Wagon Wheel Junction complex in Oxnard, which was an entertainment complex that included a roller rink and restaurant. Reich owned a 23-foot boat that was in need of repair, and he met a mechanic at work who offered to help fix it after work. The two men were last seen at the harbor around 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. Investigators believe they took the boat out to test the engine and either ran out of gas or had an engine malfunction. They were reported missing that night and the Ventura County Sheriff's Office and Coast Guard launched an air and sea search through the night that included a Sheriff's helicopter. The next day, the wreckage of the boat was found strewn across Mandalay Beach, with pieces of the boat found over more than a mile of coastline. Investigators believe the boat lost power, drifted and got caught in the surf and was ripped apart by the sea and shore. The body of the mechanic, 20-year-old Mike Gay, was found by a helicopter floating about four miles offshore. Most of Reich's remains were found about a month later. His jawbone was found on Silver Strand Beach six years later.
Medical Examiner and Coroner offices across the nation are lawfully responsible for ensuring the positive identification of all unidentified remains they have in their possession. Through the use of FGG resources, along with the collaboration and technological support provided by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, this case represents a significant advancement in fulfilling our unified goal of ensuring identification of all human remains. Every individual deserves to be identified and returned to their loved ones.
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