(St. Joseph County, IN) - Police in St. Joseph County are taking the unusual step of exhuming a body in the hopes of identifying it.

 

On Monday morning, workers will dig up the remains of a homicide victim known only as “Howard Johnson John Doe.” In June of 1985, the badly decomposed body of a man was discovered behind a motel along 933 and Cleveland Road. The man had apparently been fatally shot, but no other information could be gleaned, and he was buried in Tutt Cemetery about a mile away. That’s where officials, 40 years later, hope to pick up the trail on Monday.

 

Police say one eastbound lane of Cleveland Road will be closed between 7 and 8:30 am from Ironwood Road to Nadine Street while workers access the grave.

 

According to Detective Allan Barnes of the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department, such extreme measures for cold cases are rarely taken. “This is actually something that, honestly, hasn’t been done a lot,” he said. “We will gather evidence from the bones, and we will send it down to get looked at.” Police hope recent advances in DNA technology and genealogy data will help identify the victim and perhaps even solve the crime.

 

If you have any information on this case, please call our Detective Bureau at 574-235-9569. You can also message the Sheriff’s Department on Facebook. If you want to remain anonymous, please reach out to Michiana Crime Stoppers.