DNA Testing Helps Identify Utah Father Who Died in Fire 32 Years Ago

A man who was found burning in an abandoned boat in a field has been identified three decades after his death, Weber County Sheriff’s Office announced in a Monday, Nov. 4 video.

Kevin Lynn Capps, 30, was identified as the man who died of “suspicious circumstances” on April 16, 1992, in a field near I-15 in Ogden, Utah. Ogden is 40 miles north of Salt Lake City.

When authorities arrived at the scene in 1992, they saw the blazing field with a boat also engulfed in flames. There was a man’s body in the boat, but it was “unrecognizable,” and no personal items were nearby to help identify the deceased.

An autopsy later revealed the victim was a man who had been believed to be between 30-45 years old. Although his sex and age were estimated, he remained unidentified for over 30 years despite authorities’ attempts to match the victim’s dental records and DNA.

After the case remained cold for 32 years, the WCSO formed the Weber Metro Cold Case Task Force to bring new perspectives and insights to long-unsolved cases. 

The Utah Department of Public Safety funded the assigned detectives’ partnership with Othram Inc., a forensic genetic genealogy company, to implement advanced DNA testing.

Othram Inc. CEO and founder David Mittelman exclusively tells PEOPLE that the company utilized forensic genome sequencing for Capps’ case. The sequencing allows for an analysis of evidence that “historically has been considered not good enough for testing,” Mittelman explains.

This is used with CODIS, a technology that creates DNA profiles to identify people. However, CODIS typically finds 20 DNA markers on human remains. When used in collaboration with forensic genome sequencing for Capps’ remains, CODIS found around 500,000 DNA markers.

Othram Inc. received the skeletal remains, and then around four to six weeks later, the DNA profile was created. From there, the team used the DNA markers to find relatives and proceed with the investigation.

“It just took weeks for us to come to an answer because there were decent matches in the genealogy databases,” he says. “That’s why you have a case … that already has an answer.”

The investigative team also learned that Capps was survived by his 4-year-old daughter at the time, Chelsea LaRoe. She was informed of the news on Aug. 12, 2024, a day she said “changed everything.”

LaRoe, now 36, lived her life believing her father had “left” her.

“It made me sad, angry and filled with questions,” she said in the WCSO’s video. She explained learning of her father’s death gave her some closure.

“The day after I found out about Kevin, my mom and I went to the cemetery in Ogden, where he was buried in an unmarked grave,” she said, adding that she “will forever be grateful for the detectives who helped in this case.”

Anyone with information about the case and the circumstances leading to Capps’ death is asked to contact deputies at 801-778-6646.

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Representatives for Weber County Sherrif’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Wednesday.