When Chelsea LaRoe was 4 years old, her Utah father vanished. “I spent my entire life wondering why he left and if he ever thought about me as a kid growing up,” LaRoe said in a Nov. 4 video release shared to Facebook by the Weber County Sheriff’s Office. “It made me sad, angry and filled with questions.”

Decades later, a knock at her door in August finally gave her some answers. “That day changed everything,” LaRoe said. Two Weber County detectives told her they had information about a family member. “I thought, ‘I don’t have any family members in Weber County,’ and they told me it was about my dad,” she said. Using genetic genealogy, detectives identified a body found burning within an abandoned boat in a field as her father, Kevin Lynn Capps, Detective Ty Hebdon said in the video release.

‘BODY WAS UNRECOGNIZABLE’

After seeing a fire blazing in a field in the spring of 1992, deputies arrived to find “an abandoned boat (that) was engulfed in flames,” Hebdon said. They also saw a body “within the boat and flames,” according to Hebdon. Deputies put out the fire, but “the body was unrecognizable,” Hebdon said. Deputies didn’t find anything around at the scene to help identify the body, according to Hebdon. The fire and person’s death were considered suspicious, Hebdon said.

Through an autopsy, investigators learned the body belonged to a man between the ages of 30 and 45 years old, Hebdon said. Investigators checked dental records of missing persons from surrounding areas and states, but none belonged to the unidentified man, Hebdon said. Despite efforts to identify the man, including submitting his DNA to national databases, his name remained a mystery, Hebdon said. “The case has been cold for the last 32 years,” Hebdon said.

GENETIC GENEALOGY TO ID

With a newly formed cold case task force, Hebdon said the sheriff’s office reexamined the case with a “fresh set of eyes and ideas.” “Detectives set out on identifying the victim by using advanced DNA testing, including investigative genetic genealogy testing,” Hebdon said. Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related. The sheriff’s office partnered with Othram Inc., a forensic genetic genealogy company, after getting funding from the Utah Department of Public Safety, the company said in a news release. Othram said its scientists created a DNA profile for the unknown man, which was then used in genealogy research. This profile helped law enforcement find potential relatives for the man, Othram said.

After a relative submitted a DNA sample, the remains were confirmed to be Capps, the company said. He was 30 at the time of his death, according to Hebdon. “At the time of Kevin’s death, he left behind a then-4-year-old daughter,” Hebdon said. The day LaRoe learned her father’s body had been identified gave her “closure of knowing,” she said. “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I just did both,” LaRoe said. Anyone with information about Capps and the circumstances leading to his death is asked to contact deputies at 801-778-6646.

Weber County is about a 40-mile drive north from Salt Lake City.

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