College students help identify man found dead in hotel room in 2002, AZ officials say

In September 2002, a manager found a man dead in an Arizona hotel room just hours after his death.

The man had registered the Nogales room under the name “Edward C.” of St Petersburg, Florida, DNA Doe Project said in a June 22 news release.

There was one problem, however, Bruce Anderson, a forensic anthropologist with the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, told McClatchy News.

“The name he registered under, that man was still alive,” Anderson said.

Investigators soon learned the name was tied to identity theft and fraud, DNA Doe Project said.

Years later, investigators used next generation fingerprinting to get another name: Donald Hadland, Jr., according to Anderson. Given the man’s history with identity theft, though, investigators were unsure if this was truly the man’s name.

Now, with the help of DNA Doe Project and Ramapo College of New Jersey, Nogales John Doe has a name 21 years after his death: Donald Hadland, Jr., the nonprofit said.

“Being part of a multidisciplinary team working to establish the identity of an individual in a 20-year-old cold case was very rewarding,” Brad Combs, a student at Ramapo College, said in the release.

Little information

In 2002, investigators had little information to go off of to learn Nogales John Doe’s true identity, Anderson said.

They knew he went by the name of “Edward C”, and that he may have used the name “Donald H,” DNA Doe Project said.

He also had an 8-inch long “scar along his left frontal hairline,” the nonprofit said.

The man told the hotel manager he “had been consulting a doctor in Mexico about surgery on his head,” DNA Doe Project said.

But investigators knew little else, according to Anderson.

‘Unique’ case

Then earlier this year, Anderson said the medical examiner’s office sought the help of DNA Doe Project who partnered with Ramapo College to determine the man’s identity.

The college said in a news release that students in the newly created Investigative Genetic Genealogy Certificate Program used genetic genealogy to track down potential leads for Nogales John Doe’s identity.

Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.

“This case was unique as there was an investigative lead to the identity of Donald Hadland Jr. to begin with,” Cairenn Binder, the college’s program director, said in the release. “The students were able to compile additional supporting information using investigative genetic genealogy to demonstrate how Nogales John Doe’s genetic matches were consistent with Donald Hadland Jr.”

‘That’s not my ex-husband’

From there, Anderson said investigators were able to contact Hadland’s ex-wife with whom he had had a son.

The ex-wife said she hadn’t seen him since the late 1980s after Hadland left her and their child, according to Anderson.

Investigators asked the ex-wife to look up her ex-husband on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System’s website to see if she recognized the man in the photograph, Anderson said.

But when she did, “she said, ‘That’s not my ex-husband,’” Anderson said.

“We thought, ‘Well we got a problem,’” Anderson said. “Maybe her ex-husband is still alive, and Nogales John Doe stole this man’s identity.”

However, it turned out the photo was taken 13 to 14 years after she last saw her ex-husband, Anderson said.

Investigators tracked down a driver’s license photo for “Edward C.” of St Petersburg, Florida, and showed it to the ex-wife, Anderson said.

“That’s my ex-husband,” the woman said, according to Anderson.

Anderson said they soon learned that Hadland’s son and two grandsons already had genealogy profiles, and he asked if they would release them to a public database.

DNA Doe Project and Ramapo College confirmed that the man who died in a hotel room 21 years ago was in fact Donald Hadland, Jr., the father and grandfather of the men, Anderson said.

Thus, over two decades after his death, Anderson said Nogales John Doe’s “compelling story” came to a close.

Nogales is about 70 miles south of Tucson.

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