The remains of two people who died in 1987 and 1984 have now been identified through DNA testing by the Yolo County Coroner’s Office, closing one case and providing investigators with more information to perhaps solve a cold-blooded murder.

The most recent of the two cases at last gives a name to the man, previously known as “The Bridge Hero,” who jumped into the Sacramento River to rescue people from a vehicle that drove off the Tower Bridge on Sept. 9, 1987.

Identified as the hero was James Wray Miller of Ames Iowa. Miller’s body was recovered on Sept. 22 in West Sacramento. His age at the time of his death is unknown.

According to Chief Deputy Coroner Gina Moya, the remains were previously identified twice, both of which turned out to be false.

Moya reported that Miller’s family worked closely with the Coroner’s Office and “NamUs” during the most recent identification process.

“NamUs” is the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System based in Largo, Florida, which was launched in 2009 specifically to help identify an estimated 100,000 active missing persons cases and more than 40,000 sets of unidentified human remains.

According to file reports, Miller dove into the water to rescue a pickup driver Pati Fink, 51, and her passenger James Shaughnessy, 36, when the vehicle went into the river. Another woman, identified Chris Whittacker, was riding in the bed of the truck and was rescued.

The pickup went into the water when the drawbridge was raised to allow a tour boat to pass underneath.

According to a report appearing in the Sacramento Bee, Michael Foster Souza was serving as the bridge tender and overrode the safety controls to raise the bridge without the warning signals to prevent motorists from driving onto it when raised.

The Bee reported Souza had been on the job about a month and was fired by the state Department of Transportation shortly after the accident. He pleaded no contest to a single count of involuntary manslaughter for opening the drawbridge without activating the proper warning signals.

The Bee also reported Souza was found to have a blood-alcohol reading of 0.18, after the fatal accident, which occurred while he was at the controls of the bridge apparatus.

“Under the terms of his plea agreement, Souza was permitted to enter a work furlough program instead of serving jail time,” The Bee stated. “He was removed from the program after violating rules and required to serve the final months of his one-year sentence in jail.”

Identification of the second cold case, according to Moya, was made in December 2017 and only just reported.

The skeletonized remains of what were later determined to be a black woman, were found scattered near County Road 32A in Davis in August 1984.

“Her cause of death was multiple shotgun shots to the head, neck and right shoulder,” according to Moya.

The deceased was positively identified by DNA comparison as Michelle Roy of Sacramento County, who went missing in May 1984. Her age was also not reported.

The case is under investigation and anyone with information is urged to contact the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, Moya stated.

The use of DNA testing — partnered with genealogy databases — has shined a light on cold cases across the state, producing new information to help solve them.

Earlier this year this method was used to identify a suspect in a decades-old case that affected hundreds.

DNA from a tissue left in a trash can led authorities in April to arrest a former police officer suspected of being California’s notorious, elusive Golden State Killer, according to the Associated Press.

Officers arrested 72-year-old Joseph DeAngelo on multiple murder charges stemming from incidents across the state.

DeAngelo is suspected of committing at least a dozen killings and roughly 50 rapes in the 1970s and ’80s. He is going through court proceedings in Sacramento County Superior Court and other counties may follow suit with their own charges, Yolo County included.