Photo of the victim
On Nov. 11, 2009, workers contracted to pour cement on the Highway 93 widening project took a break at Milepost 3 near the Hoover Dam. While standing on the west side of the highway, one of them observed what appeared to be a bone. The two men then canvassed the area and located additional bones, concluding that they were human. They immediately notified their supervisor, who then contacted National Park Service agents. A Kingman Police Department Officer on traffic detail at the site notified the Sheriff’s Office.
The construction workers and the agents did a quick search of the area and recovered more bones, a sun-bleached pair of blue jeans, a damaged white towel, a sun-bleached red t-shirt, a black athletic shoe and a green sleeping bag. A second search conducted a few days later resulted in the collection of additional remains. All items were then turned over to the Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office. Detectives continued the investigation over the years in an attempt to generate leads with no results.
On Feb. 2, 2022, an MCSO Detective obtained a bone sample from the victim supplied by the Medical Examiner’s Office. This was submitted for scientific examination to the Arizona DPS lab, requesting a DNA profile be obtained for submission into CODIS to try to identify the unknown person. In addition, a sample was sent to the University of North Texas (UNT), where an extracted DNA sample was obtained and stored for analysis and identification purposes. All attempts to identify John Doe were met with negative results.
In April 2024, investigators assigned to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Sheriff’s Office were notified by Othram that they had received grant funding to pay for forensic genetic genealogy in this case. The extracted sample at UNT was sent to the Othram and a DNA profile was created and uploaded to a genealogy database for investigation by their assigned genetic genealogist.
In October 2024, SIU investigators received a report indicating that the John Doe was a descendant of ancestors born in the mid-1800’s and residing in Michigan. An investigation began in which possible relatives of John Doe were located and interviewed. In doing so, investigators learned that William Herman Hietamaki, a brother of interviewed siblings, had not been seen by them since 1995, and had been travelling in the southwest area of the United States. Reference testing conducted on these relatives confirmed that the John Doe unidentified remains were Hietamaki.
William Herman Hietamaki was born on April 4, 1950. He and his family resided in the Trout Creek, Michigan, area. He went by his middle name, Herman. He attended high school in Michigan and mechanic’s school upon graduation. Sometime after high school he left Michigan and started travelling. He was known to hitchhike to various locations and lived a nomadic lifestyle.
Hietamaki was last seen by his family when he went to visit his sister in New Mexico in 1995. A search of public records showed he at one time resided in Las Vegas, Nevada. He suffered from epileptic seizures. The ME’s Office was unable to determine his cause of death due to the state of his remains. They estimated the year of his death to have been between 2006-2008.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s would like to thank Othram for their work in this case and for obtaining grant funding to enable the forensic genetic genealogy investigation to be completed. Hietamaki’s family now has closure due to their dedication in identifying John and Jane Does.
Republished courtesy of Mohave County Sheriff's Office.