YAVAPAI COUNTY, Ariz. — A piece of a child's rock collection has been identified as a jaw bone that belonged to a military service member who died in 1951.
The Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center recently helped the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office to identity a bone that had somehow ended up in a rock collection.
A resident in Black Canyon City recovered the object from a child's rock collection after observing that it appeared to be a human bone. The sheriff's office sent the bone to the medical examiner and it remained unidentified for years. In 2023, officials referred the case to the Ramapo College center.
Through DNA testing, officials determined the bone belonged to U.S. Marine Corps Captain Everett Leland Yager, who died during a military exercise in California.
It is not clear how Yager's jaw bone ended up in Arizona but investigators believe a bird may have brought the bone over to the Grand Canyon State.
Plans are being made to reunite the human remains with Yager's family.
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