30 Year Old Cold Case Finally Solved In Arizona

We've finally made it past Halloween, which means the time for spooks and scares is over. Unfortunately for Arizona, this state never sleeps, and real-life horror stories keep popping up.

Most recently, a case thought dead for 30 years has finally been cracked, but not shattered.

Human Remains Found in Arizona

Fifteen years ago, in November 2009, a group of workers were pouring cement on Highway 93, near the Hoover Dam, when they stumbled across something terrifying: human bones. They immediately reached out to the Mohave Sheriff's Office, and along with them, found jeans, a t-shirt, a towel, a duffel bag, and one shoe.

Everything found was sent to the County Medical Examiner in hopes of finding who the bones belonged to, but outside of finding a timeframe of death (2006-2009), no new information could be uncovered. Shortly after, the case went cold.

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Digging Up the Truth

For thirteen years, the case went untouched, until 2022, when the file was opened again, this time, hoping for genetic research to find the identity of the case's John Doe. A bone sample was sent to researchers at the University of North Texas (Go Mean Green) to try and locate genetic records. Unfortunately, nothing came back, and hope was gone again.

But wait! There's more! In April 2024, a Genetic Lab in Texas reached back out to the Mohave Sheriff's Office to notify them they'd received a grant to continue testing on the bones. Finally, in October, they found their man.

The remains found belonged to  William Herman Hietamaki, a Michigan man born in 1950 who enjoyed travelling the southwest, either by hitchhiking or living as a modern nomad. He was last seen by his family in 1995, when he went to go visit his sister in New Mexico. The rest of the story is still unknown, and will likely stay that way. The dead can't speak, after all.

[ABC 33/40][Detroit Free Press][Mohave County Sheriff's Office via Facebook]