Wayne Dee Heath was a man whose tibia bone was discovered in 2009 on a sandbar in the Snake River in Jefferson County, Idaho. No other remains were recovered.
He was identified in 2024.
Case[]
Heath was fishing with a friend downstream of the Palisades Dam on the Snake River on April 1, 1986, when the anchor rope got caught in their boat's propellor and caused it to sink. Heath was unable to reach the shore and disappeared into the water. A search of the river did not locate his body.
A fisherman found his tibia in 2009. The bone was forwarded to the University of Texas Health Sciences Department, which extracted DNA for entry into CODIS in 2013.
DNA from the bone was later used in 2024 to confirm his identity through comparison to Heath's son and sister.
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