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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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The mystery of a Pennsylvania man who disappeared almost 50 years ago has been solved after cold case investigators made a DNA breakthrough.
Originally from Illinois, Peter Adams was 20 and living in Pennsylvania when he was reported missing on March 17, 1977. Six days later, at 2 a.m. on March 23, 1977, a young man was struck and killed by a truck hundreds of miles away on the I-95 near Ashland, Virginia.
The authorities determined the victim to be Caucasian, between the ages of 20 and 25 years old and wearing blue jeans, a western-style shirt and a jean jacket. Yet despite the man having a recognizable face, no positive identification was made.
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For almost 50 years, the victim was known simply as the “Ashland John Doe.”
That only changed when the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner brought this case to the DNA Doe Project.
Founded in 2017, the DNA Doe Project is a non-profit corporation set up to help identify John and Jane Does using investigative genetic genealogy.
"John Doe" and “Jane Doe” are placeholder names used in legal proceedings, law enforcement, and general contexts to represent an unknown or anonymous male or female.
When the DNA Doe Project’s expert volunteer investigative genetic genealogists began research on this case, it was soon clear that the unidentified man had deep roots in Peoria County, Illinois, as well as recent Polish heritage.
“The family tree in this case was complex,” said team co-leader Eryk Jan Grzeszkowiak. “In addition to dealing with pedigree collapse, we ended up needing to build family trees back to Poland, Germany and Switzerland amongst others.”
The team nevertheless made swift progress and after a little over a week of research, they were able to identify a husband and wife who both had familial connections to Ashland John Doe’s DNA matches. This couple had six children, but, crucially, the oldest—Peter Adams—appeared to have dropped off the radar in the 1970s.
While records showed that Adams had attended high school in the Chicago suburbs in the early 1970s, there was no evidence of him being alive past 1977.
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Presenting this lead to the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, investigators then discovered that Adams had gone missing six days before the unidentified man had died. Further DNA testing facilitated by the Virginia State Police then confirmed that Peter Adams was indeed Ashland John Doe.
Reflecting on the breakthrough, Captain Brien Frey of the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Richmond Field Office, took a moment to recognize the “extraordinary investigative efforts” Trooper Ed Ryder and the agents who worked “tirelessly” in the late 1970s to try and identify Peter Adams.
“Although an identification was not possible at that time, their diligence, investigative methods, and commitment to this case were commendable and laid the groundwork for the answers we have today,” Frey said.
Frey also praised the “strong collaborative partnership” between the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the DNA Doe Project, and “a family who never forgot their brother.”
“I also want to personally thank Cold Case Special Agent Jonathan Johnson for his continued dedication and leadership in bringing this case to a resolution,” he said. “This partnership, combined with advancements in DNA technology, has finally provided long-awaited answers in a case that remained unresolved for nearly 50 years.”
Traci Onders, team leader at the DNA Doe Project, said: “We are honored that the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner came to the DNA Doe Project to help uncover Peter’s identity. While this case was not without its challenges, we were able to resolve a mystery that’s lasted nearly half a century in a matter of days thanks to the hard work and expertise of our team.”
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