Kentucky State Police have released an image of what a man might have looked like before he was found dead in a tobacco barn near Williamstown in 1989. They hope to be able to identify the victim with the help of the public and DNA.
The man had been dead for about two weeks when his body was found in a barn off Ky. 22, about 7.5 miles west of Dry Ridge, state police said in a news release Friday. He had been shot twice in the back of the head and stripped of clothing. His hands had been severed from his arms, state police said. A .22-caliber weapon was used in the shooting, police said.
The man was white, 6 feet 5 inches tall and about 220 pounds, forensic scientists determined. He had medium brown hair in a crew cut with short sideburns.
State police said they are working with the DNA Doe Project to learn more about him.
“The volunteer investigative genetic genealogists with the DNA Doe Project have determined that the man likely has roots in Eastern Europe,” state police said. “He may also have ancestry from the Middle East and England. So far, the DNA matches are at the distant cousin level.”
DNA technology was used recently to help solve a cold case from 2001 in Bowling Green. State police said it helped them identify the remains of Dawn Clare Plonsky Wilkerson, 45, of Nashville.
State police asked anyone with information about the Williamstown case to call Post 6 in Dry Ridge at (859)428-1212. Information can also be provided anonymously at 800-222-5555.
