A nearly 25-year-old case is one step closer to being solved.
According to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, detectives have identified the remains of a man found north of the Pueblo City Limits in 2000. The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office says the remains of the man found in 2000 have been identified as Marvin Majors of Oklahoma.
Majors was 34 years old at the time of his suspected death. The Sheriff’s Office reports that Majors’ body was found in 2000 when a woman walking her dog north of the Walking Stick development.
Officers with the Sheriff’s Office attempted, without success, to identify Majors from the skeletal remains after they were found. A sculptor with the University of Colorado was called in the following year to make a clay sculpture to help with identification.
The sculpture brought forth a lead from a rancher who said the man in the clay sculpture was someone he had encountered camping on his property in August 2000. At the time, the rancher told the sheriff’s office that the man he believed was Marvin Majors, had told him that he was traveling from New Mexico to Denver.
In 2021, the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office reopened the case after being notified that the FBI had completed a DNA profile from Majors’ remains.
That DNA profile, along with a DNA sample from items of evidence found at the campsite in the area where Majors’ remains were found, was sent to the CBI and a new sample was submitted to a genetic genealogy database in 2023.
In November 2024, that sample came back, and a sample in the data set from a distant family member of Majors matched. DNA was collected from a suspect sibling of Majors and came back just last week as a positive match. A Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogist then verified the match.
Detectives with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office then moved forward with a strong indication that the man found was Marvin Majors.
Sheriff’s Office staff contacted distant family members of Majors who said he was from Los Angeles, CA, and had lived a transient lifestyle. Distant family members of Majors said they had not heard from or seen Majors since 1998 or 1999 and were unsure as to his whereabouts after that time.
“Through modern science and teamwork, our detectives were able to get the breakthrough they needed to identify this person,” said Lucero. “The years of dedication, diligence and perseverance by our detectives demonstrate that no matter how old a case is, they are committed to solving it. This was somebody’s family member, and our team went above and beyond to identify him and to bring some closure to his family.”
Majors’ family was appreciative of the work put in by the sheriff’s office over the past 25 years, and were glad that this case has finally been solved. The cause of death for Majors was never determined, but the sheriff’s office said foul play was not suspected.