COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Forensic genealogy has revealed the name of a man whose body was found south of South Haven 45 years ago.
The remains discovered in Covert Township in July 1979 are those of Robert McDaniel, who was born in 1930 in Trenton, New Jersey, Michigan State Police confirmed to News 8 Friday.
MSP confirmed the information published by DNASolves.com, which is run by Texas-based forensic genealogy company Othram. MSP said it expected to discuss the case further next week.
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The body was found by Covert Township police as they tried to work out who was dumping garbage along 30th Avenue where it dead-ends near I-196. Retired Covert Township Police Chief Rick Winans previously told News 8 he was a sergeant when he and the then-chief found the body in a smoldering green tarp. The remains were badly burned, he said. The victim had been shot in the head.
The only clues to his identity were a Timex watch and a gold chain with a religious medallion inscribed with Spanish writing that translated to “Our Lady of Guadalupe — pray for us.”
Scientists at MSU used clay to build a model of the man’s face, saying he was likely Hispanic.
“We just kind of assumed it must have been somebody from one of the migrant camps that come up, made some bad enemies, and the enemies took him out there and did him in and burned him up,” Winans told News 8 in 2019.
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MSP sent DNA to Othram in 2022 for forensic genealogy testing. The process uses matches from public ancestry databases to track down someone’s identity. State police have used forensic genealogy to identify several sets of unidentified remains, as well as a suspect in the 1988 killing of a 19-year-old woman in Three Rivers.
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