Officials identify body found near Kingman after 41 years

A man whose body was found outside of Kingman in September 1982 has been identified as Virgil R. Renner.

Renner's remains were found in a rural desert area around Hackberry Road outside of Kingman on Sept. 9, 1982. When police were called to the scene, they recovered the remains alongside a scattering of belongings, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.

The body was later taken to the medical examiner’s office in Tucson where an autopsy was performed, and it was determined that the victim was a white male around 55 years old, but they were unable to identify him at the time. The cause of death could not be determined but officials estimated that he died between 1979 and 1981.

Several attempts to identify Renner were unsuccessful and his identity remained unknown and unclaimed in the Tucson medical examiner's office until 2020, according to a news release.

Investigators from the special investigations unit brought the remains back to the Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office. In February 2023, they sent a sample from the victim to Othram Inc., a genetic laboratory in Texas.

Othram was able to identify Renner using advanced DNA testing, forensic-grade genome sequencing and forensic genetic genealogy, according to the release.

Not much is known about Renner at this time, officials said. He was from Humboldt County, California, but left in the early 1970s to search for gold in Nevada. Officials do not know how he made his way to Arizona. Renner had a brother and sister, who are long since deceased, and never married. However, distant relatives helped identify Renner.