An Upper Peninsula man last seen in the late 1990s has been identified in Arizona.
William Herman Hietamaki was a John Doe case after his body was first discovered in 2009 and was only recently identified.
On November 11, 2009, workers poured cement on a highway widening project near the Hoover Dam.
According to the Mohave County Sherriff’s Office, one of the workers found a bone.
Between the construction workers and National Park Service agents, more bones, clothing, and a green sleeping bag were also found nearby.
All items were then turned over to the Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Detectives continued the investigation over the years in an attempt to generate leads with no results.
In 2022, DNA samples were sent out to two forensic labs to try and identify the bones, but those were unsuccessful.
In April 2024, investigators assigned to the Special Investigations Unit of the Sheriff’s Office were notified by a genetic lab in Texas that they had received grant funding to pay for Forensic Genetic Genealogy in this case.
A sample was sent to the lab and a DNA profile was created and uploaded to a genealogy database for investigation by their assigned genetic genealogist.
In October, investigators received a report indicating that the John Doe was a descendant of ancestors born in the mid-1800’s and residing in Michigan.
An investigation began in which possible relatives of John Doe were located and interviewed.
Reference testing conducted on these relatives confirmed that the John Doe unidentified remains were William Herman Hietamaki (Height-a-mackey).
Hietamaki (Height-a-mackey) was born on April 4, 1950.
He and his family resided in the Trout Creek area of the Upper Peninsula.
He went by his middle name, Herman.
Sometime after high school he left Michigan and started travelling.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office says he was known to hitchhike to various locations and lived a nomadic lifestyle.
Hietamaki (Height-a-mackey) was last seen by his family when he went to visit his sister in New Mexico in 1995.
A search of public records showed he at one time resided in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He suffered from epileptic seizures.
The ME’s Office was unable to determine his cause of death due to the state of his remains.
They estimated the year of his death to have been between 2006-2008.
