LAKE HAVASU CITY — DNA testing and genetic genealogy have identified a man whose remains were found in a shallow desert grave near Lake Havasu City more than 34 years ago, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim was Willie Blanton Mills, born April 4, 1955, who would have been 36 when his body was discovered, the sheriff’s office said in a news release reported by KTAR News.
Deputies found the remains on March 11, 1992, in a wash near Needle Mountain Road off Interstate 40. An autopsy did not determine a cause of death, but the case was classified as a homicide, the sheriff’s office said.
Fingerprint searches and X-rays turned up no matches at the time, leaving the man unidentified for decades.
In June, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System offered to pay for DNA testing. Texas-based Othram Inc. developed a DNA profile, and an FBI genetic genealogy team traced it to a relative who said Mills had not been seen since 1992, according to the release.
The FBI notified the sheriff’s office on Oct. 21, and fingerprints confirmed the identification, officials said.
Mills was originally from Pennsylvania and was living with relatives in Santa Ana, California, when he disappeared. Investigators do not know how he died or how he came to be in Mohave County.
Anyone with information about Mills’ whereabouts around 1992 is asked to call investigators at 928-753-0753 and reference case No. 92-03547.
Sources: KTAR News. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: S. Winkvist / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
