The missing man found killed outside the Birmingham hospital in 2002 identified using a new genetic tool

The human remains found in the Carraway Boulevard boulevard were identified 23 years after a worker conducted an environmental survey discovered the bones.

For more than two decades, the identity of the man – who had been shot in the head – was a mystery, despite multiple efforts to identify him.

The office of the coroner in Jefferson County said on Wednesday that the mystery was resolved and identified the victim of 38 -year -old homicide as Derryl Moneyham in Birmingham.

Moneyham’s remains were found on March 20, 2002, and the authorities said he had died for more than two years when he was discovered.

Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said Moneyham was identified using forensic genetic genealogy after traditional DNA processes have failed.

It’s the first time, said Yates, forensic genetic genealogy was used in Jefferson County.

In the same process are analyzed three additional homicides of cold cases.

The discovery was made around 12:45 on that day.

The worker who did the environmental survey found the skeletal remains wrapped in several bed linen in a dense area across the street, from the entrance to Carraway Methodist Medical Center.

An examination of the skeletal remains found that they are those of an adult man who is believed to be in the mid-30s, with an estimated height of 5 meters, 5 inches to 5-meters, 7 inches.

The recovered clothing residues consisted of blue jeans and a shirt with Aqua and Brown geometric shapes, said Yates.

In the jeans pockets were multiple American coins, with the latest 1999 dated suggesting that death took place in 1999 or later.

“The state of fabrics and presence of numerous roots braided inside the clothing and linen have suggested that several growth seasons took place from the moment the remains in the location,” said Yates.

In the next 13 years, there was no substantial role in identifying the remains.

In 2015, Coroner’s officials entered the Namus database, which is a compensation house for missing, unidentified and unrelated.

In 2018, a traditional DNA profile was developed and was introduced into the Combined DNA Index system (Codis), but a known person was not found.

In 2023 the authorities submitted a sample to Othram, Inc. for sequencing of the criminal quality genome.

Yates said that Othram developed a full DNA profile of a man of African origin.

Othram also offered the coroner/medical examiner of Jefferson County, a report produced by their team of forensic genetic that contains opportunities for several people widespread throughout the country who have been genetically linked to the remains.

Othram has developed leadership by looking for genetic genealogical databases for people who share DNA with the victim.

Investigators then tried to contact and interview the possible family members, hoping to follow their family line back to the victim.

For the next two years, said Yates, all the efforts of JCCMEO investigators to confirm the relationships of the persons listed with the deceased have not succeeded.

Earlier this year, JCCMEO investigators compared the information about the ancestors shone from Othram’s genealogy’s report to the missing person in the Jefferson County area, with a missing person standing above all others.

At the same time, Othram developed a new match during the analysis of the genealogy that suggests that a parent-child match was identified.

JCCMEO investigators conducted ancestral research on the missing person, identifying and, finally, locating the potential family members living outside the state.

Those potential family members have confirmed that a close relative has been missing from the Birmingham area for more than two decades.

The additional tests by Othram’s Kinsnp analysis confirmed the relationship and led to the positive Moneyham identification.

Moneyham identification is the fourth case announced publicly in Alabama where investigators used OTHRAM developed technology to identify a person

Moneyham was last seen in the family life on July 6, 1999, leaving a family residence on New Hill Avenue in the South Wenonah community.

On July 10, 1999, the family reported that Moneyham disappeared at the Birmingham Police Department and the Sheriff’s office in Jefferson County, saying that it was unusual for him not to keep a regular contact with the family.

Moneyham was originally from Birmingham, but he lived in Toledo, Ohio with his family for many years. He visited the Birmingham family for a long time, when he disappeared in 1999.

Two months before Moneyham’s disappearance, he said guilty for cocaine trafficking, according to judicial documents.

Moneyham received probation, but a circuit of Jefferson County Circuit told Birmingham News in 2005

The bad game or the desire to avoid criminal prosecution have never been excluded as possible causes of its disappearance, said the Sheriff’s office in Jefferson County.

“He went to go to the store for a minute and never returned,” said Tiala Moneyham’s granddaughter in 2005. “I have never heard of him. There have always been a lot of speculation about what happened, but I never knew. ”

His wife, Brenda Moneyham, said at that time that she does not know how the story of her husband will end.

“We all need closure,” she said.