Chain of Custody & The Marion Timberland Discovery
On October 26, 2003, hunters tracking elk through remote, heavily timbered mountainous terrain off U.S. Highway 2 near Marion in Flathead County, northwestern Montana, discovered partial human skeletal remains lying in dense brush.
Flathead County Sheriff's Office (FCSO) detectives and search and rescue personnel conducted intensive ground searches across several acres, uncovering scattered skeletal elements, decomposed clothing fragments, and a weathered watch.
Forensic Anthropological & Pathological Examination
Examination at the Montana State Forensic Science Division determined the decedent was an adult White male, estimated between 20 and 35 years of age, standing approximately 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet 1 inch in height.
The postmortem interval was estimated at between three and eight years, placing his death between 1995 and 2000. No obvious traumatic skeletal fractures or gunshot defects were observed on the recovered bones, but the remote wilderness location indicated suspicious circumstances. He carried no wallet or identification. He was cataloged in NamUs as UP10773.
2022 Resolution by DNA Doe Project
In 2021, Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino partnered with the DNA Doe Project. Skeletal elements were processed by HudsonAlpha Discovery to extract nuclear DNA for high-density SNP microarray genotyping.
Genealogists mapped family branches across the Pacific Northwest. In October 2022, after nineteen years of mystery, authorities announced that Flathead County John Doe was Steven Gooch of Spokane, Washington. Steven was born in 1973 and was 23 years old when he disappeared in 1996.