WACO, Texas — The Waco Police Department is trying to solve a cold case from 2008 after human remains were found.
25 News spoke with the lead investigator with the cold case unit and he says they’re hoping forensic genealogy will help them put a name to John Doe.
Detective Francisco Reyes has been a police officer for 17 years.
He’s worked patrol, investigations and has been a firearms instructor.
Now his task is to solve cold cases.
"I have a big heart for missing persons and trying to bring comfort to families," Reyes said.
He’s looking at a sketch of a man whose body was found in Waco in 2008.
Detective Reyes sent pictures of the skull to the department of public safety forensic sketch artist who came up with the rendering.
“Keep in mind the hair could be different — he could have had a mustache or been heavier set or he could have been a skinnier male, so look at the eyes and look at the facial features," Reyes said.
His cause of death is undetermined, but they don’t suspect foul play.
They do have DNA, but they haven’t been able to match it to anyone in the database.
They’re hoping forensic genealogy will help.
Reyes is the supervisor over the cold case unit trying to solve 129 cold cases that date back to 1973.
He’s hoping Central Texans will go to their website and look over the synopsis and submit a tip if you have one.
"Anything would help — even something small to you can be huge to us," Reyes said.
Go to the Waco Police website to read about each cold case.
If you have any information, no matter how small, click on the link to submit a tip.
