After 27 years, Holopaw John Doe (1997) is now identified

Summary

In June 1997, the skeletal remains of an unidentified individual were discovered in a grassy area in the unincorporated community of Holopaw, located in St. Cloud, Florida. St. Cloud is a city in Osceola County located on East Lake Tohopekaliga, south of Orlando. The remains were discovered by travelers who had stopped on the side of Route 192. The Osceola County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene. The remains were determined to be those of a man between 5' 9″ and 6' 1″ tall and weighing between 200 and 225 pounds. The man was aged between 50 and 70 at the time of his death.

When the man's remains were discovered, he was wearing Nike tennis shoes size 12, beige pants size 40×32 and a dark blue polo shirt. A handgun was also found with the remains, and investigators determined the man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Details of the case have been entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) under the number UP534. Despite extensive efforts by law enforcement investigators to identify the man, no matches were found and the case remained cold due to a lack of viable leads. The man became known as Holopaw John Doe, named after the community in which his remains were discovered.

In 2023, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram in Woodlands, Texas, to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the man. Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the forensic evidence, then used forensic-grade genome sequencing to establish a complete genealogical profile of the man. Othram's in-house forensic genetic genealogy team then used this profile to conduct genetic genealogy research, providing new lines of investigation for law enforcement.

With this new information, a follow-up investigation was conducted, leading investigators to possible relatives of Holopaw John Doe. Baseline DNA samples were collected from the potential parents and compared to the stranger's DNA profile. This investigation resulted in the positive identification of the man, now known as William Wallace Stabler Jr., born January 23, 1933.

During the investigation, it was learned that William Wallace Stabler Jr. was a career criminal. In April 1960, Stabler escaped from a prison camp in Weott, California, where he was incarcerated after being convicted of first-degree robbery; he had been transferred to the prison camp from San Quentin Prison. A few months later, he was arrested and returned to Humboldt County to stand trial. During the 1970s, Stabler committed several robberies and was eventually apprehended after leading police on a high-speed chase, during which he shot them with a rifle. For years after the police chase, Stabler maintained a “pen pal” relationship with one of the officers who had been shot during the incident. This correspondence continued until Stabler was released on parole.

Later in 1981, William Wallace Stabler Jr. shot two police officers who were responding to a domestic violence call in Corte Madera, California, located in Marin County, north of San Francisco. To escape, Stabler forced a man at gunpoint to drive him out of San Francisco, then stole the man's car to continue his escape. At the time of his identification in 2024, active arrest warrants for Stabler were filed in Marin County, California.

Stabler was featured on the television show “America's Most Wanted” which gathered information on his whereabouts, including information about his presence in New York in 1991 or 1992, where he was seen shopping in a store Banana Republic with its Doberman Pinscher named Daisy. It was reported that he worked as a video game repairman. The last known photo of Stabler was in 1988, when he was arrested in Los Angeles under the alias “William Hudson.” There have been no solid leads on Stabler's whereabouts in more than two decades.

The identification of William Wallace Stabler, Jr. represents the 25th case in the state of Florida where authorities have publicly identified an individual using technology developed by Othram. Most recently, in Winter Haven, Florida, Mack Lavell Proctor, who was murdered and found in a swampy area, was identified in May 2024.