“The Sonoma county sheriff’s office brought the case to the DDP, the group’s investigative genealogists began working pro bono to identify the remains. They developed a DNA profile and uploaded it to GEDmatch, a public genealogy database, in January 2026.”

“Tracing the family line eventually led investigators to Kinney, who was born in 1940. Although he was born in San Diego, he later moved to Santa Rosa – relatively close to Salmon Creek state beach, the DDP said.”

“The critical breakthrough came when team members found an article about human remains that had washed ashore in 1999, just a couple miles south in Bodega Bay.”

“In 2003, a woman got in touch with investigators regarding her father, who had last been seen on 10 August 1999. Shortly afterwards, investigators confirmed that the partial remains found in 1999 belonged to her father, Walter Karl Kinney, using X-ray records to confirm the ID.”

“After identifying Kinney in just over a week, the DDP presented its findings to the sheriff’s office, which later confirmed the identification.”