‘Fulton County John Doe’ identified 28 years after body found doused in kerosene and set on fire

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – A man whose identity has been a mystery since his body was found 28 years ago finally has a name thanks to the work of the DNA Doe Project.

DNA Doe Project officials say David Brown died in 1998 after being doused with kerosene and set on fire near his Atlanta home.

Although Brown was reported missing by his family, his disappearance remained a mystery for decades.

Things changed in October 2023, when the case was referred to the DNA Doe Project by the head of the Find Our Missing Facebook group.

Working with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office, the project was able to obtain a sample from the body of what was then known as “Fulton County John Doe” for DNA testing. Volunteer genealogists then spent months researching his name.

“The lack of data before 1870 makes African-American genealogical research very challenging,” says genetic genealogist Lance Daly. “We discovered an ancestor from the 19th century who was born in Lincoln County, Georgia, but later died in Atlanta. This led us to hypothesize that our John Doe had deep family ties to Atlanta and may have been born there.”

After building the family tree using online DNA databases, researchers say they found their match: David Brown.

“We are proud that we have finally been able to identify him after so many years.” said team co-leader Rebecca Somerhalder. “Most of our cases are very complex and we are extremely grateful to those who upload their DNA to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA to assist us in our work.”

You can learn more about the non-profit project here.