The DNA Doe Project and the Michigan State Police (MSP) Cold Case Team have identified a homicide victim found in 1973 as Vietnam War veteran Daniel C. Garza-Gonzales.
On March 13, 1973, police were alerted to a body floating in the Saginaw River in Zilwaukee Township. With no identification present, attempts to put a name to the individual through fingerprints or other sources proved fruitless.
An autopsy revealed the victim was shot seven times and had blunt force trauma to the back of his head. The medical examiner suspected he was knocked down, shot and discarded into the river before being discovered by a fisherman approximately six weeks later.
Within a year, with nothing further for detectives to investigate, the man was buried in a grave marked “John Doe.”
In 2020, the MSP Third District Cold Case Team and the MSP Missing Persons Coordination Unit reexamined the case and exhumed the body for advanced DNA testing. The remains were sent to the Michigan State University (MSU) Anthropology unit for reexamination.
In late 2021, with help from the DNA Doe Project, previously obtained hair samples and a new bone sample were sent to Astrea Forensics for forensic genetic genealogy.
In the summer of 2022, a possible familial match was located with collaboration from the DNA Doe Project. The connection linked the unidentified human remains to a family in Beeville, Texas.
With the assistance of the Texas Rangers, the family was informed of the possible identification and investigators obtained familial DNA reference samples from several family members that were sent to the FBI DNA lab for comparison.
In December 2022, a DNA confirmation from an FBI DNA database confirmed the victim was former Texas resident Daniel C. Garza-Gonzales, born March 15, 1944. Gonzales was a Vietnam War Veteran who was wounded during the war. After serving his country, he left Fort Worth, Texas at 29 to look for work in Flint, Michigan. His parents never heard from him again.
Knowing his identity, even nearly 50 years later, is a critically important new lead in this case, and investigators hope it will help them determine who was responsible for his death. Garza-Gonzalez’s remains will be reinterred by his family in Texas.
Anyone with information about the 1973 murder of Garza-Gonzales is asked to contact D/Sgt. Bill Arndt 989-615-6257.
Republished courtesy MSP.