Shaun Brauner. Credit: Monroe County Sheriff's Office
Monroe County Sheriff Troy Goodnough is announcing the identification of a homicide victim from 1986.
On Oct. 17, 1986, Monroe County Sheriff’s Detectives were alerted by a of possible skeletal remains in a wooded lot on Lewis Ave. in Ida, Michigan. The citizen directed detectives to the scene, where they located partially decomposed human remains. Detectives treated this incident as a homicide and the remains were sent for an autopsy.
The Monroe County Medical Examiner determined the remains belonged to a while male between the ages of 35 and 45 years old. The cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma to the head and the manner was homicide.
During the investigation, detectives exhausted all leads but were unable to identify who the remains belonged to.
In the fall of 2017, then Sgt. Jeff Paul with the Monroe County County Sheriff's Detective Bureau sent samples of the remains, through funding from NaMus, to The University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for DNA analysis. In March 2018, the lab extracted a DNA sample from remains, which was entered into CODIS.
In the fall of 2019, the case was reassigned to then-detective Jeff Hooper. Hooper, with the assistance of the Wayne County Medica Examiner’s Office looked not other ways to possibly identify the victim. At that time, Hooper’s efforts were unsuccessful.
In the fall of 2021, Hooper was notified by The University of North Texas Center for Human Identification that the National DNA Index System alerts a possible association with a family reference sample—the same possibly belonged to a sister of the decedent.
Hooper met with a family member and learned her brother, Shaun Daniel Brauner of Detroit, Michigan, was missing since June 1986. Hooper would later learn that Brauner was believed to have been a victim of a homicide in Wayne County, Michigan. The homicide case was adjudicated in Wayne County in the summer of 1990.
In November 2024, the Monroe County Sheriff Detective Bureau sent forensic evidence to Othram in hopes that advanced DNA testing could help identify the unidentified man. Othram scientists produced a suitable DNA extract from skeletal remains. A comprehensive DNA profile was then developed for the man using Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing. The profile was then compared to a potential relatives using KinSNP Rapid Relationship Testing. The analysis confirmed the relationship and helped investigators identify the man.
Due to the outcome of the criminal adjudication in 1990, Goodnough is announcing that the Monroe County Sheriff’s homicide investigation is now closed. Brauner’s remains were returned to his family for a memorial service.
The services provided by Othram for this case were funded by the NamUs.
Republished courtesy of Monroe County Sheriff’s Office