Body found in creek bed in 1980 identified as missing Nevada man, California cops say
_fitted.png "The body found in 1980 was identified as Donald Gene Horecka, 25, of Las Vegas, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office said.")
A body found in a creek bed more than four decades ago has been identified as a missing Nevada man, California deputies say.
With help from new technologies, including forensic genetic genealogy, the body found in 1980 was identified as Donald Gene Horecka, 25, of Las Vegas, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office said in a Dec. 16 Facebook post.
Body found in creek
Deputies said they responded to a Benicia property on Feb. 2, 1980, after getting a report about a body being found in a creek bed.
At the time, investigators determined the body belonged to a man, deputies said.
They also learned he died from corrosive esophagitis, which is caused by “ingesting a chemical substance not meant for human consumption,” according to deputies.
Despite investigating his death “for several months,” deputies said the man’s identity remained a mystery.
He was eventually buried without a name, deputies said.
Decades later, case reopened
Then, decades later, deputies said they reopened the case and exhumed the man’s body in 2023 in hopes of finally identifying him.
Since then, investigators have been searching for his identity using “facial reconstruction, new DNA testing and Forensic Genetic Genealogy,” deputies said.
Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.
The sheriff’s office partnered with Othram Inc., a forensic genetic genealogy company, last year and sent a DNA sample to the company, Othram said in a Dec. 17 news release.
There, scientists created “a comprehensive DNA profile” for the man, which was used in genealogy research, the company based in Texas said.
This research provided new leads to law enforcement, which pointed investigators to the man’s potential relatives, according to Othram.
The relatives provided a DNA sample, which confirmed the remains belonged to Horecka, Othram said.
Horecka “went missing from Nevada sometime in the late 1970s to early 1980,” deputies said.
Anyone with information about Horecka is asked to contact the coroner’s office at 707-784-7500.
Benicia is about a 35-mile drive northeast from San Francisco.
This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Body found in creek bed in 1980 identified as missing Nevada man, California cops say."
