Human remains found in 2019 identified as man reported missing in Phoenix 2 years earlier

PHOENIX – Human remains found in northern Arizona in 2019 have been identified as man reported missing in Phoenix two years earlier, authorities announced Wednesday.

A Utah forensic lab helped Arizona investigators identify the skeletal remains as Mark Austin Dunne, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office said.

A missing persons report for Dunne had been filed with the Phoenix Police Department in March 2017 after he failed to contact his family for an extended period of time.

Meanwhile, a hiker found remains that couldn’t be identified in a wooded area at the base of Mount Elden, north of Flagstaff, on Nov. 2, 2019.

How were human remains identified as missing Phoenix man?

In August 2023, CCSO hired Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Forensics, which specializes forensic genetic genealogy techniques, to see if the lab could identify the remains.

Intermountain Forensics developed a DNA profile from the remains and compared it with existing profiles. By February of this year, Dunne was identified as a potential match.

A DNA sample from the remains was then compared with DNA from Dunne’s family. Testing done at the University of North Texas and additional information gathered by detectives confirmed the identity.

Evidence at the scene suggests Dunne had been camping when he died, but investigators aren’t sure when he arrived in the Flagstaff area.

The cause of death could not be determined.

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