Modern science has finally solved a mystery along the Sonoma County coast that spans more than two decades. The DNA Doe Project announced today that human remains found at Salmon Creek State Beach in 2022 belong to Walter Karl Kinney, a Santa Rosa banker who disappeared back in 1999.
According to the Press Democrat, in a strange twist, this is actually the second time Kinney has been identified; partial remains found near Bodega Bay shortly after his disappearance were linked to him back in 2003. This latest discovery—a single bone found by a family searching for seashells—was connected to Kinney in just eight days thanks to investigative genetic genealogy.
While the identification provides some closure for his family, the mystery isn’t entirely over. Authorities say that because only partial remains have ever been recovered, Kinney’s official cause of death remains unknown.
