A decades-long investigative effort has identified human remains discovered in Olympic National Park in 2000 as Joseph Louis Serrao Jr. The identification was made possible by advanced genetic testing and involved the collaboration of the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch and the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Serrao’s remains were discovered in July 2000 by a researcher who found skeletal remains inside a sleeping bag in a tent in a remote area of the Sol Duc River drainage in the park. The researcher notified authorities, and the remains were transported to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. A pathologist determined the decedent was likely a man between 30 and 50 years old and had been deceased for six months to four years, but his identity remained unknown.
Items recovered from the tent were also processed by the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory, but investigators were unable to develop usable latent fingerprints.
In 2024, a forensic anthropologist with the King County Medical Examiner’s Office submitted a DNA sample from the decedent to Othram, a laboratory specializing in forensic genealogy. The testing analyzed a broad range of DNA markers to identify potential relatives and generate investigative leads, and by 2025, the laboratory had identified possible family connections.
The National Park Service Investigative Services Branch then contacted relatives in several states, including Hawaii, and coordinated interviews and the collection of reference DNA samples for comparison. Based on genetic, genealogical and circumstantial evidence, investigators were able to identify the remains as those of Serrao.
According to family members, Serrao was originally from Hawaii and had been in Washington before he went missing. The family's last known contact with him was in 1998, and they had not heard from him since.
“This case remained unresolved for nearly 30 years, but investigators never lost sight of the goal of identifying this individual and finding answers for his family," said Debra Flowers, deputy chief of the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch. "I'm proud of the persistence and collaboration that made this identification possible, and I hope it brings some measure of closure to those who have spent so many years wondering what happened to Joseph.”
The Park Service did not mention what may have been the cause of Serrao's death.
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