Jawbone found by rock-collecting child identified as that of Marine who died in 1951 training accident
A jawbone discovered two decades ago in Arizona by a boy with a rock collection was positively identified decades later as that of a Marine who died in a 1951 training accident.
A jawbone discovered two decades ago in Arizona by a boy with a rock collection was positively identified decades later as that of a Marine who died in a 1951 training accident.
Last year, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office turned the piece of bone over to the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in New Jersey. It had come into the sheriff's possession in 2002 after a boy's parents found it in his rock collection.
Traditional DNA testing yielded no results, and the case remained dormant until the bone was turned over to the genealogy center.
Ramapo College said in a news release this week that the jawbone is that of Capt. Everett Leland Yager, who died in a training accident in California more than 70 years ago.
Yager's remains were collected from the accident site at the time and turned over to his family, who buried them in his hometown in Missouri. It's unclear how the jawbone made its way to Arizona, but experts believe a bird may have picked it up.
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