Credit: DDP
A team from the DNA Doe Project began working on the case of Missouri Street John Doe in August 2023, after it was previously worked on by students in the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Certificate Program. It was clear the unidentified man had Ecuadorean ancestry, but a lack of records and endogamy complicated the investigative genetic genealogy research on this case. Nevertheless, the team on this case worked tirelessly and were able to establish that Missouri Street John Doe had ancestry from the province of Guayas in Ecuador, a detail that was made public in October, 2023.
In September 2025, a member of the public came forward with information that suggested Missouri Street John Doe could be their missing loved one, Isidro Marcelo Guzmán Quinde. Isidro was born in 1963, and he was born in Guayas, Ecuador. Shortly after this tip came in, the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed that Isidro Marcelo Guzmán Quinde is the man formerly known as Missouri Street John Doe.
Case background
On April 3, 2004, an anonymous caller from a payphone in central Tucson, Arizona reported a dead body in a dumpster at 1935 East Missouri Street on the south side of town.
When police responded to the area, they found the body of an adult Hispanic man, between 35-45 years old and approximately 5’4” tall and 115 pounds. He had a black mustache, medium length black hair and brown eyes. Investigators determined the man had died within a few days of being found.
Additional distinctive features included a removable denture and an amateur looking tattoo on his left forearm that authorities speculate depicted an assault rifle with shoulder strap. He wore “Bosse” jeans, size 30, with two pairs of socks, one off-white pair and one black pair. The man was found wearing only one shoe on his right foot, a black “HGH” brand sneaker.
Republished courtesy of DNA Doe Project