WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. — The Waukesha County Sheriff's Office and the Waukesha County Medical Examiner's Office have recently identified a victim from a 1977 cold case.
Officials say in September of 1977, an unidentified man was involved in a police pursuit when he lost control of his car and crashed. Deputies and the Waukesha County Coroner were unable to positively identify the man. The vehicle was also reported stolen from Gurnee, Ill, and did not contain anything to help assist in the man's identification.
Officials say over the years, numerous detectives from the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office and staff from the Waukesha County Medical Examiner's Office tried to identify the man who was listed as "John Doe."
In 2015, an effort to collect DNA samples in the case began. In 2019, the Medical Examiner's office presented the case to the DNA Doe Project, officials say. By 2021, a family member was identified and officials were able to get her DNA profile to compare with "John Doe."
The Waukesha County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday that "John Doe" has positively been identified as John Lindberg Scott from Bistol, Tennessee. He was identified through siblingship DNA comparison with his sister Jean Nunn with a 99.998 percent match.
"It has been over 44 years since the accident took John’s life. This is an honor as his case has affected so many lives over the decades, and it is a blessing to be able to finally give him his name back and offer his family some answers as to where he’s been all these years," the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
