Oregon cold case solved after more than 50 years

This article was written by Vince Ybarra with KPTV News

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - A cold case has been solved in Oregon after a man went missing in 1974 while traveling from Montana to California.

Oregon State Police said Mark Smith went missing sometime in 1974 while traveling from Montana to California.

Four years later, a logging crew found human remains near Williams, Oregon.

Officials said they couldn’t identify Smith at the time.

“All we actually had was a cranium and part of his scapula—his shoulder blade,” said Oregon State forensic anthropologist Hailey Collord Stalder.

The case was shelved until 2020. That’s when the unknown remains were sent to the University of North Texas for DNA extraction and analysis.

Although they didn’t identify the individual, the analysis offered better insight into who the person was.

“We discovered that instead of it being a female, like this person was suspected to be at the time, it was actually a male,” Collord Stalder said.

The case remained unsolved until a breakthrough in September 2025.

“Somebody uploaded their DNA kit to one of these ancestry sites, and the genealogist was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can finally build a tree.’ That was the linchpin,” Collord Stalder said.

Collord Stalder said the discovery brought a range of emotions for Smith’s family.

“Mixed shock and grief all over again—and some sort of, at least not necessarily closure, but answers,” Collord Stalder said.

Officials said there is no evidence of foul play, and Smith’s cause of death is now under investigation.