Credit: Maine OCME
Human remains recovered from the Atlantic Ocean more than two decades ago have been identified as a Las Vegas man, officials said.
The remains discovered 27 miles (43 kilometers) off the coast on July 24, 2000, belonged to 84-year-old Philip Kahn, who was reported missing that same year, the state medical examiner’s office said Wednesday.
It’s unclear why Kahn ended up in New England waters near Canada’s Grand Manan Island. He disappeared after flying to New York City.
Early attempts to identify the partially skeletonized remains through DNA and fingerprints were unsuccessful, but officials revisited the case in 2019 and again last year through the FBI’s Deceased Persons Identification Services Division.
The FBI matched the fingerprints and dental records to Kahn, who had been reported missing in Las Vegas in 2000. His family members have been notified, officials said.
The DNA Doe Project was brought in to provide investigative genetic genealogy on the case in 2019 using a genetic profile developed by Parabon Nanolabs. But, investigative genetic genealogy was hampered by a lack of close matches in the GEDmatch.com and FTDNA.com databases.