Weld County cold case: Remains found in 2000 finally identified

WELD COUNTY, Colo. — Remains discovered in a Weld County field more than two decades ago have finally been identified as those of a Wyoming man last seen in 1998.

According to the Weld County Sheriff's Office, a man was walking his dog in a field near East Eighth Avenue and Weld County Road 43 on Feb. 14, 2000, when he found the remains. Police and investigators attended the scene and found no evidence of foul play.

They were unable to identify the man and his remains were sent to a forensic anthropologist who determined they belonged to a white man between 35 and 50 years old.

There was no indication of trauma and investigators were unable to determine the cause or manner of his death due to the condition of the remains. Until recently, the remains were known as John Doe 2000.

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In 2022, a forensic genetic genealogy was carried out with DNA from the remains. Through this, investigators located relatives in Nevada, who voluntarily submitted their DNA to help solve this case.

In December of last year, Cold Case Detective Byron Kastilahn got the break he was waiting for when the genetic genealogy test results came back. The remains have been tentatively identified as the Christopher Scott case. Additional genetic testing was conducted to confirm the remains belonged to Case.

Investigators determined Case lived in Rock Springs, Wyoming, before his death. He was last seen by his half-brother in Nevada in 1998.

“This case was as cold as it gets. There was no evidence other than human remains. Without forensic genetic genealogy, Christopher Case would never have been identified. After discovering forensic genetic genealogy in 2020, I wanted to try to integrate all of our Unidentified Human Remains (UHR) cases into this process. So far we have identified three cases of UHR and I hope that they can all be identified eventually,” Kastilahn said in a press release.

“Regardless of the passage of time, our commitment to solving all cold cases remains unwavering,” the sheriff’s office said in the release. “In unsolved cases like Christopher's, we tirelessly pursue investigative leads, employ forensic tools and hope that he is identified, so that his story can be told and his loved ones can find peace in obtaining the answers they deserve.”

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