Mystery man who died at alcoholics anonymous meeting in 2001 was divorcee, 53, who was thrown out of his ex wife’s house and never seen again

The man had no identification and no one at the Milwaukee AA meeting knew him

No family or friends ever came forward to positively identify him

Thanks to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System at the U.S. Department of Justice, the man has been identified as Oliveros Perdomo, 53, and his remaining family notified

Milwaukee County officials have identified a man who died more than 12 years ago while trying to get help for his drinking problem at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.



No one knew the name of 53-year-old Oliveros Perdomo when he walked into the Milwaukee meeting in 2001 and no friends or family came forward following his sudden death.



He also had no identification on him when he collapsed beneath a sign that read, ‘But for the grace of God...’

Mystery solved: A man whose identity remained a mystery for 12 years after he slumped over dead in a 2001 Milwaukee AA meeting has been identified as this man, 53-year-old Oliveros Perdomo

Tests later revealed he died from a withdrawal seizure due to chronic alcoholism.



‘It was like he ran out of breath,’ AA member Jose Gonzalez said at the time.



For months, authorities tried to identify him. Police showed his morgue photo to people in the neighborhood where he was last seen. The same photo appeared in newspapers and on television.



People searching for missing loved ones became aware of the case, but left the morgue disappointed.



‘The case went cold,’ said Jenni Penn, an investigator for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner, ‘but we never forgot about the guy.’

Better days: This photo provided by the Perdomo family shows Oliveros Perdomo with his wife Josefina Perdomo. It turns out Oliveros may have been trying to finally get sober in order to mend his relationship with Josefina when he died of a seizure brought on by alcohol withdraw

Interest in the case resurfaced after the medical examiner's office started loading data onto the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs. It was launched in July 2007 as a national repository and resource center for missing persons and unidentified decedent records.



None of the office's dozen or so investigators are dedicated solely to identifying unknown bodies, and the office handles about 5,000 cases a year. As time allows, the office reviews dormant cases.



‘But a lot of these cases are not solved with technology,’ Penn said. ‘Sometimes they take some elbow grease.’

In October, Penn took Perdomo's fingerprints to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. No matches were found. Then she recognized that among several possible names listed, Perdomo's name appeared more than once. Penn also received information on Perdomo from a retired immigration file.

‘Before that, the dots did not connect,’ she said.



According to the file, a person named Oliveros Perdomo was born Aug. 4, 1947, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Josefina died in 2005 without ever having known what happened to Oliveros. Josefina's sons were contacted by a researcher with the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner and the puzzle was finally solved last week

A subsequent inquiry to the Social Security Administration revealed a 1992 Chicago address for Perdomo.



Milwaukee County medical examiner's investigator Anne-Marie Eschle then located a Cook County, Illinois, small claims case from 1995 for Perdomo that included a woman at the address named Josefina Perdomo. She had died in 2005, but a request for her death certificate led to a Chicago funeral home, where contact information was obtained on her two sons.



Penn called one of the sons, Alfredo Marquez, who said his mother and Perdomo were married in 1976, and that he had not seen his stepfather since late 2000 or 2001.



Last week, Marquez viewed morgue and immigration photos and confirmed his stepfather's identity, Penn said.



‘This whole thing is like a miracle,’ said Jenni Penn, an investigator for the office. ‘It was like the timing was right. Everyone I asked to help helped.’



Marquez said his mother and stepfather separated over his drinking.



‘My mom told him if he didn't stop drinking, he needs to find somewhere else to live,’ Marquez said. ‘He left the house and never came back.’



When he died, he had no alcohol or drugs in his system.



‘I think he was trying to get help,’ Marquez said. ‘I think he was trying to get sober and show my mom he was a changed man.’

