OR WILLIAMS DOE: F, 14-18, found in wooded area of Holcomb Peak in Williams, OR - 9 May 1978 (updated 2024 as JOHN doe) *MARK SMITH* (1 Viewer)

Case File: 1257UFOR Artistic renderings of the victim Unidentified Female Date of Discovery: May 9, 1978 Location of Discovery: Williams, Josephine County, Oregon Estimated Date of Death: Years prior State of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only Cause of Death: Unknown Physical Description ** Listed information is approximate Estimated Age: 14-18 years old Race: Unknown Gender: Female Height: Unknown Weight: Unknown Hair Color: Unknown Eye Color: Unknown Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown Dentals: Available. Fingerprints: Not available. DNA: Available. Clothing & Personal Items Clothing: Brown sweater. Jewelry: Unknown Additional Personal Items: Unknown Case History Loggers discovered the victim's partial skeletal remains in a wooded area of Holkum Peak. Investigating Agency(s) If you have any information about this case please contact; Agency Name: Josephine County Sheriff's Office Agency Contact Person: Dr. Veronica Vance Agency Phone Number: 541-474-5128 E-Mail Agency Case Number: 78-1241 NCIC Case Number: N/A NamUs Case Number: UP #11638 Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case. Information Source(s) NamUs 1257UFOR Loggers found the remains of #JohnDoe near Williams, Oregon in 1978. It is believed he was just a teenager! #Unidentified Date of Discovery: May 9, 1978 Location of Discovery: Williams, Josephine County, Oregon Estimated Date of Death: Years prior State of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only UPDATE: Remains have been relisted as male, not female www.crimewatchers.net

 

[Kimster]

For The Missing: Pacific Northwest

For The Missing: Pacific Northwest. 46,417 likes · 437 talking about this. This page highlights missing children and adults of the Pacific Northwest, and AMBER Alerts from across North America. This...

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[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

NamUs has recently updated this case file and this doe is now listed as Male.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

 

[Guess Who]

I wonder if the correcting from female to male made somebody come forward. I can see somebody seeing the familiarity in the face, but since it said female and you were missing a male that you would not believe it was him.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Yeah I'm very interested in who this was. My guess is DNA testing revealed the correct sex, which may have also led to their identity.

 

[Mel70]

If they were correct about the age range. I am guessing then a run away, and no one cared.

 

[Mel70]

My guess to is he isn't from the area. I wish they had a tighter time-line. You could go back and search chronologically starting in 70. There are sooooo many. It's so sad. The oldest case is from 1910.

 

[Guess Who]

If they were correct about the age range. I am guessing then a run away, and no one cared.

Or thought it wasn't their missing person because they had him identified as female.

 

[Mel70]

Or thought it wasn't their missing person because they had him identified as female.

Definitely.

 

[Guess Who]

Definitely.

I do wonder what made them identity him as female in the first place.

 

[Mel70]

I do wonder what made them identity him as female in the first place.

The hip bones are telling. No height listed. Doesn't say partial remains.

 

[Guess Who]

The hip bones are telling. No height listed. Doesn't say partial remains.

It does say partial remains.

State of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only

 

[Mel70]

It does say partial remains.

State of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only

Oh dang. I was looking down from the height area. I guess if no hip bones, maybe? Yeah. I did guess they were unrecognizable when they stated death was years prior. The skull usually has eyebrow bone area indicators.L, male from female. Possibly leaning towards the younger side of their estimate. Still in puberty. IDK.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

I was thinking it was possibly a "women's" sweater that they found and possibly just assumed.

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Josephine_County_John_Doe_(1978)

One or all limbs and one of both hands were not at the scene and have yet to be discovered.

 

[Guess Who]

I was thinking it was possibly a "women's" sweater that they found and possibly just assumed.

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Josephine_County_John_Doe_(1978)

One or all limbs and one of both hands were not at the scene and have yet to be discovered.

yeah, even worse if they based it off of clothing that might or might not be even connected to the skeleton.

 

[Mel70]

yeah, even worse if they based it off of clothing that might or might not be even connected to the skeleton.

Well, I'm guessing it was since loggers discovered him.

 

[Mel70]

They did ID a man from 1988 that was buried near railroad tracks. Thus month.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Remains found in southern Oregon county identified more than 50 years later as missing teen

A logging crew discovered the skeletal remains near Holcomb Peak. Mark Smith was 19 in 1974 when he left his home in Montana to travel, then disappeared.

www.kgw.com

Remains found in southern Oregon county identified more than 50 years later as missing teen​

After more than 50 years, remains found by a logging crew in Josephine County have been identified as a missing 19-year-old from Billings, Montana who left home to travel in 1974 — and was not heard from again.

Four years after Mark Smith went missing, a logging crew discovered a skull and a scapula fragment on May 9 near Williams, in the area of Holcomb Peak, a 5,268-foot mountain in southern Oregon. A piece of a shirt and remnants of a brown sweater were found near the remains. Despite an investigation, the remains could not be identified for decades.

On Feb. 26, the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office Human Identification Program confirmed that the remains were Smith's after a lengthy investigation. His family shared with the medical examiner’s office that they thought of Smith every day during the more than 50 years since his disappearance.

At first, the remains were examined by a forensic pathologist and odontologist who believed they belonged to a female between the ages of 16 and 18. Then, in 2020, the State Medical Examiner’s Office submitted the remains to the University of North Texas for DNA extraction and analysis. While there was not enough DNA to generate a full profile, the analysis confirmed the remains to be male rather than female.

The investigation was reopened to see if any missing male profiles could be a match, but no results turned up, Oregon State Police said.


A reexamination of the family tree and recently uploaded DNA kit in September 2025 turned up a new match that allowed the genealogist to extend a previously incomplete branch of the family tree and identify a family with several siblings, one of whom appeared to have disappeared from records after the mid‑1970s.

The Human Identification Program worked with a Josephine County medicolegal death investigator who contacted the family of Mark Smith. They confirmed that Smith had been missing since 1974. His siblings each gave swabs of their DNA that were submitted for testing, along with a tooth from the remains.

On Feb. 25, DLI confirmed the match to be siblings, allowing for Mark Smith's remains to be officially identified 52 years after his disappearance. The State Medical Examiner’s Office and Josephine County are working with the family on next steps and final arrangements.

No evidence has been found to suggest "foul play" in Smith's death, however an investigation remains about to determine the circumstances around it.
“We are grateful that Mark has finally been returned to his family," said Hailey Collord-Stalder, a state forensic anthropologist. “This identification reflects years of persistence, scientific collaboration, and the evolving power of forensic genetic genealogy.”