New Technology Helps Anne Arundel Co. Police Identify Man Found Dead In 1985

Anne Arundel County police Wednesday said new technology helped them identify a man found dead in 1985 and said they believe he had been dead for some 20 years before his body was discovered.

On April, 23, 1985, construction crews clearing ground to build Marley Station Mall in Glen Burnie found human remains in a trash can. On Wednesday, police named the victim as Roger Hearne Kelso, born in 1943 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He died after suffering severe upper body trauma, police said.

Police used tools of the time to try to identify the victim, including dental records and canvasses, but the victim remained unidentified. Sgt. Jackie Davis said seven coins were among Kelso's remains, none newer than 1963, something that would prove critical in police findings later on.

More recently, a detective reached out to Virginia-based Parabon Nanolabs, who used DNA phenotyping and genetic genealogy. Genealogists use comparative DNA analysis, measuring the amount of DNA shared between two people and traditional genealogy research.

On Christmas of last year, the company told police of a possible match.

Samples the company sent back led police in April to determine Kelso was the victim. On June 5, the FBI notified relatives of Kelso nationwide.

"This is huge not only for the case to have the victimology and to be able to gain leads and asking the public for help but also for this family who for six decades has wondered what happened, and this poor man that was murdered had no name for that long," Davis said.

The FBI found that in the summer of 1962, Kelso went to his family and said he was going away for a while, Davis said. However, when he didn't turn up at a major family event in the fall of 1963, relatives began to worry. Based on the age of the change found with Kelso's remains, police believe he was killed sometime around 1963.

"This new technology has allowed us to A, give our victim a name after almost six decades of being nameless," Davis said. "It also lets the family know ... where he was, what happened to him, and we're also going to be able to return him to his family and give him the proper burial he deserves after six decades."

Davis said police also aren't giving up on closing the case. Kelso graduated Glen Burnie High School in 1961 and was president of the art club in 1950 and 1960. She said she urged people who went to school with Kelso to open yearbooks and look through photos to jog their memories and tell police anything that could help.

"Any information you can give us on Roger is only going to help us," Davis said.

Kelso's sister said Wednesday that she's thankful for the police's effort throughout the years.

County Executive Steuart Pittman recognized Kelso's family members in attendance at the press conference.

"I hope that you're going to be able to move on from here in ways that you couldn't before, but I also have to congratulate our police department for the work they did on this," Pittman said.

Also at the press conference was an officer who first investigated the case and has been retired for 20 years. Police Chief Timothy Altomare said that's emblematic of the commitment his department has to solving all violent crimes.

"We've got a lot of families that deserve answers to their questions, closure to their cases and justice," Altomare said.

Altomare said a proposal in Annapolis, had it succeeded in the General Assembly this year, would have made a breakthrough like the one announced Wednesday impossible. The House bill sought to prohibit searches of consumer genealogical databases to help identify an offender. That technique was used to identify a man suspected of being the Golden State Killer.

"The technology involved here is extremely important to police," Altomare said. "It is ill-intended as legislation and it would be negative in its consequences."

Anyone who may have known Roger is asked to call the police cold case unit at 410-222-4731 or the police tip line at 410-222-4700.

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WBAL-TV 11's David Collins contributed to this report.