Credit: Benton County Sheriff's Office
Thanks to the relentless review of cold cases by a lieutenant at the Benton County (Arkansas) Sheriff’s Office and a March 2021 meeting with Othram, investigators have now identified previously unidentified remains of three homicide victims dating back over 40 years ago.
Starting in June 2016, Lieutenant Hunter Petray, part of the sheriff's criminal investigation unit, began a case review of cold cases, particularly the three unidentified homicide victims at Benton County Sheriff’s Office.
By August 2022, Petray had the name of one victim and a promising lead the Sheriff’s Office is still working on. By September, Petray had the name of another victim and was able to successfully close her case. And then earlier this month, Petray identified the third and final set of human remains.
“The DNA technology is there now,” said Petray during a Tuesday press conference announcing the cold cases updates.
1981 Garfield John Doe now identified as Fred James “Jamie” Grow
On June 13, 1981, the remains of an unidentified homicide victim were located in the area of Garfield. The victim, who we now know was 33-year-old Jamie Grow, was shot and dumped in a wooded area. At the time, the victim was estimated to be between 20 and 40 years old.
During Petray’s initial review in 2016, he resubmitted a sample of the victim’s hair retained from the autopsy to the Arkansas Crime lab, but they were unable to obtain a DNA profile.
Hoping more DNA samples could prove fruitful, Petray obtained an Order for Exhumation and, working with the coroner’s office, successfully located the victim’s unmarked grave. The remains were then transported to the Arkansas Crime Lab. This time, analysts were able to obtain a partial DNA profile. Still, more was needed for an identification.
One month after a March 2021 meeting with Othram, the Arkansas Crime Lab shipped testable portions of the victim’s remains to the private laboratory for testing.
Nearly a year later, Othram was able to develop a DNA profile. Then, in July 2022, Othram's in-house genealogy team identified a close familial match, along with the possible identity of the victim.
In August, Petray made contact with the identified relative and submitted a DNA profile for testing against the victim. The sample was a genetic match to Jamie Grow.
Originally from Colorado, Grow had been living and working in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Retracing Grow’s steps, Petray learned that Grow left on a planned trip back to Colorado on June 3, 1981—10 days before his body was found.
Prior to leaving, two females approached Grow asking for a ride to Oregon. Witnesses have confirmed Grow offered them a ride part of the way to the Kansas City area. The two females were then seen loading their belongings into Grow’s 1965 Ford Econoline Camper Van.
The two women have now been identified, and the case remains active.
“Anytime time passes, especially 41 years, that makes it more difficult to, not necessarily find out what happened, but difficult to prosecute, but that won’t stop us from going forward,” said Petray.
Although Petray was able to identify the victim and secure very strong leads, there was one aspect of the case timeline that particularly affected the investigator.
“We missed notifying Jamie’s mother by a year. She lived to be 103, but we missed notifying her,” he said.
1990 Maysville Jane Doe now identified as Donna Sue Nelton
On May 7, 1990, the remains of a female were located in the remote area of Maysville. She had been shot and set on fire. A facial reconstruction was attempted, but given the extensive damage to the victim, it wasn’t possible.
Over the years, evidence was submitted multiple times to the Arkansas Crime Lab, but they were unable to identify the victim. In 2008, forensic scientists at the University of North Texas successfully developed a mitochondrial DNA profile—but it wasn’t enough. Neither were dental records.
So, on April 22, 2021, the Arkansas Crime Lab shipped portions of the remains to Othram for testing. Five months later, Othram successfully developed a DNA profile on the victim. Then, on August 11, 2022, Othram's in-house genealogy team identified a distant familial relative.
Petray made contact with the identified relative, who provided a family history, including names of close relatives. Following the family tree, Petray finally identified someone who confirmed they had a missing female family member. On Sept. 28, DNA from the possible relative was collected and compared with the DNA of the unidentified victim. Results indicated a genetic match, identified the victim as 28-year-old Donna Sue Nelton.
Petray discovered that Nelton was dating George Alvin Bruton at the time of her disappearance. Bruton had spent three months on the FBI Most Wanted list in 1979 after taking two family’s hostage and wounding two officers in Utah. He was also implicated in several murders in the Kansas City area and had numerous convictions for bank robbery, burglary and auto theft. He was wounded and captured in 1980 after a shootout in Fort Smith.
After being paroled from prison in 1988, Bruton again came under investigation again in July 1989 for numerous crimes. In September 1989, Bruton and another associate were seen disposing of black trash bags into a dumpster in North Kansas City. FBI agents retrieved these bags and located a large amount of Nelton’s personal effects. Nalton’s vehicle was also later located inside a storage unit used by Bruton.
In July 1990, a source informed a federal agent that Bruton had mentioned killing a female named Donna over threats to expose his drug and theft operations. Bruton was eventually sentenced to life in prison on drug-related offenses. He would remain there until is death in 2008.
With the identification, tie to Bruton and the rest of the information, Petray said the Sheriff’s Office now considers this case closed.
1996 Beaver Lake John Doe now identified as John Douglas Rollins Jr.
In October 1996, the human remains of a male in a sleeping bag were located in Beaver Lake. Investigators believe the sleeping bag may have been weighted down when it was thrown into the lake 3 months to 1 year prior.
In April 1998, a facial reconstruction was completed and a composite was released to the public. In September 2008, the University of North Texas was again able to develop a partial mtDNA profile. Even with that and dental records, Petray was still unable to identify the victim when he started his case review in August 2016.
On April 22, 2021, the Arkansas Crime Lab shipped portions of the remains to Othram for testing. On October 28, after several iterations, Othram was finally able to develop a DNA profile for the victim. Genetic genealogy led to a possible relative, but when Petray made contact, the relative did not know of anyone missing from the family.
On Sept. 17, Othram's in-house genealogy team identified another potential relative. The individual’s son had been listed as deceased in an obituary; however, Othram didn’t find a social security death index record.
When Petray contacted the individual, he said his son had been missing since the mid 1990’s but no police report had filed. Other information disclosed during the interview led Petray to believe there was a strong possibility their missing son could in fact be the unidentified victim. A genetic match on October 12 confirmed Petray’s suspicions.
Now, the victim of this 1996 cold case homicide has finally been identified as 31-year-old John Douglas Rollins Jr. The investigation into Rollins’ homicide remains active, as there are not many leads at this time.
“This is three cases in one county. I’m hoping other law enforcement see this story and can maybe get closure on thousands of cases out there like this,” said Benton County Sheriff Shawn Holloway.