Human remains found near Hoover Dam identified as ‘nomadic’ man

Human remains discovered nearly 15 years ago near Hoover Dam have been identified as a Michigan man last seen by family members in 1995.

The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that genetic testing determined that the bones found on Nov. 11, 2009, by a construction worker near U.S. Highway 93 were those of William Herman Hietamaki.

The sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post that detectives received assistance from the office’s special investigations unit and Othram Inc., a genetic lab in Texas, to end years of efforts to generate leads about the man’s identity.

Multiple DNA analyses, leads unsuccessful

In February 2022, a sheriff’s office detective submitted a bone sample to the Arizona Department of Public Safety lab and requested a DNA profile that could be submitted to the Combined DNA Index System for analysis and identification. A sample was also sent to the University of North Texas, but both attempts to identify the man were still unsuccessful, the sheriff’s office said.

Mohave County investigators were told in April that Othram had received a grant to pay for forensic genetic genealogy in this case, which made it possible for a DNA profile for the man to be created and uploaded to a genealogy database for investigation.

This month, investigators received a report that the man was a descendant of ancestors born in the mid-1800s who resided in Michigan, which led Mohave County investigators to begin interviewing possible relatives, including Hietamaki’s siblings, who had not seen him since 1995.

Genetic testing on the siblings confirmed that the remains were Hietamaki, the sheriff’s office said.

Man was known hitchhiker, nomad

The sheriff’s office said Hietamaki, who went by his middle name, Herman, was born on April 4, 1950, and grew up near Trout Creek, Michigan.

After graduating from high school, Hietamaki began traveling and hitchhiking and “lived a nomadic lifestyle,” the sheriff’s office said.

He was last seen by family when he went to visit his sister in New Mexico in 1995. He also once resided in Las Vegas, and had been traveling across the southwestern United States before his death, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Medical Examiner’s Office was unable to determine his cause of death, but the sheriff’s office said Hietamaki was known to have epileptic seizures and that he is believed to have died between 2006 and 2008.

The Sheriff’s Office thanked Othram for helping investigators solve a decade-old case.

“Hietamaki’s family now has closure due to their dedication in identifying John and Jane Does,” the office said in the post.