Waukesha County cold case solved; man in 1977 crash identified
WAUKESHA, Wis. - The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office, in collaboration with the Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s Office, has solved a cold case from 1977.
A mystery for more than four decades has been solved in Delafield, where the victim of a 1977 fatal crash has finally been identified.
Dark, grainy crime scene photos show a fatal crash 44 years ago following a police pursuit. It happened along Golf Road, just west of County Highway SS in Delafield. The driver’s identity had not been known until now.
"It shows that these cold cases can be solved," said Katie Dougherty, deputy medical examiner. "Agencies haven’t given up on them."
In 1977, investigators only knew the vehicle was reported stolen out of Gurnee, Illinois.
"Evidence is no longer available," said Dougherty. "The people who originally investigated it might not be around anymore."
When she joined the team 10 years ago, she made a pledge to give John Doe his name back. The body was exhumed in 2015, and DNA was collected.
"We did have the names on the lighter, 'To John, from Lori,’ or, ‘Love, Lori,’ or something like that and the name Scott on an envelope, but it was really the DNA matches, putting it all together that ending up leading to John’s name," said Jenny Lecus, DNA Doe Project.
Lecus was able to create a genetic profile and matched it to the mystery man’s second cousin once removed through an online database. Dougherty used that to link the DNA to closer relatives of a man named John Lindberg Scott, of Bristol, Tennessee, to a 99.9% certainty.
"All the family knew was that 44 years ago, he went missing and fell off the face of the Earth," said Dougherty.
Dougherty says Scott's family now has peace, and other families now have hope.
"I want the families of missing persons to know that we haven’t forgotten about their loved ones," said Dougherty.
The DNA Doe Project is a group of volunteers, but they rely on donations to help cover DNA testing expenses.
This was the second oldest cold case in Waukesha County. There are six others that remain open and investigators continue working to solve them.
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