The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified a man whose body was discovered in the Columbia River more than two decades ago, using a similar process that identified another cold case in September.
On Jan. 17, the medical examiner’s office announced it had identified Michael E. Johnson as the man who was found on Oct. 26, 1998 in the river near Lower River Road. He was estimated to be about 53 at the time of his death, which was determined to be caused by a gunshot to the head. The manner of his death is undetermined.
The identification follows months of investigation that kicked off with a DNA sample from Johnson’s remains. The sample was sent by the medical examiner’s office to Bode Technology, a forensic laboratory in Virginia, a release from the office announcing the identity confirmation stated. The laboratory specializes in extracting DNA from difficult samples.
The company used the sample to predict Johnson’s ancestry and compared it to online genealogy databases that allow searches of unidentified individuals. That research led to an ancestral link to a family from California, the release stated.
Among multiple possibilities, the laboratory found one person among the leads had no traceable activities since 1998, the year Johnson was discovered, the release stated. In October, Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office Operations Manager Nikki Costa contacted potential siblings of Johnson, who indicated their brother left California more than 20 years ago and had no contact with his family.
Costa reached out to agencies across the country to assist in the lead. The California Department of Justice Missing Persons DNA Program analyzed reference samples from family members. In Utah, the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office collected a sample from Johnson’s sister, Kathy Bergen, to submit to the California program. The University of North Texas Center for Human Identification sent a DNA profile it had developed of the then-unidentified body in 2008 to California as well.
Based on genealogical, DNA and other circumstantial evidence, Clark County Chief Medical Examiner Martha Burt concluded the previously unidentified man was Michael E. Johnson, the release stated.
Authorities do not have information on Johnson’s activities or movement leading up to his body’s recovery, the release stated. Those with any information about Johnson are asked to contact Vancouver Police Department Major Crimes Unit Sgt. Patrick Moore at 360-487-7440.
This case was the second time the county medical examiner’s office identified the remains of a cold case in four months.
On Sept. 27, the medical examiner’s office announced it had confirmed James Orin Johnson Sr. as the man whose remains were discovered in Ridgefield on Jan. 13, 2002. In that case, the office also utilized Bode Technology to predict that man’s ancestry. They followed leads until discovering the children, brother and former wife of the man who assisted in the identification.
Costa was inspired to pursue the latest cold case and others by Katherine Taylor, a Washington state forensic anthropologist who died of metastatic breast cancer in 2021, Costa stated in the release.
“She mentored me and ignited a passion in me to give the unidentified their names back,” Costa said.
