Credit: Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office has identified another cold case homicide victim with the help of new techniques and technology.
On Feb. 13, 1988, the skeletal remains of an adult male subject were found down an embankment off Bonny Doon Road. The identity of the decedent was not known at the time, and an autopsy revealed the manner of death to be homicide. No persons have been arrested in this investigation, and the decedent has been designated as “John Doe” since the initial discovery.
In 2020, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office, including the Sheriff’s Office Forensics Services Division, began utilizing forensic genetic genealogy techniques to finally identify the decedent and make notification to next of kin.
With the partnership of the California Department of Justice Jan Bashinski DNA Lab, Parabon Nanolabs, and the Menominee County Sheriff’s Office, the decedent has now been positively identified as Marty Robin Rupar, who was born in 1966. Detectives have learned that Rupar was last known to reside in Mississippi. According to his family, Rupar went missing in 1983. The timeline of his arrival in California is not clear.
Rupar’s siblings have been notified of his identification and are thankful to the Sheriff’s Office for the opportunity to lay him to rest.
The Sheriff’s Office is actively investigating the circumstances of Marty Rupar’s death. Anyone with any information regarding Marty is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division at 831-454-7630.
Republished courtesy of Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office.