The body exhumed from the Tooele City Cemetery in May has been positively identified as a Colorado man who went missing from his home in Broomfield, Colorado, in 1976.
According to Tooele County Sheriff Paul Wimmer, a DNA analysis by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System at the University of North Texas confirmed the remains are those of David Stack, an 18-year-old man who left his parents’ home on June 1, 1976.
Stack intended to hitchhike to California, according to the NamUs’ online database. He expected to stop at his siblings’ homes in Truckee, Nevada, or Berkeley, California, but was never seen by his family again.
On June 10, 1976, the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office discovered the body of an unidentified man outside of Wendover near a sanitation landfill with two gunshot wounds to the head. The John Doe’s body was buried in the Tooele City Cemetery after the case, ruled a homicide, went cold.
About eight months ago, discussions between NamUs, the state medical examiner’s office and the sheriff’s office revealed a possible match between Stack and the John Doe found near Wendover.
In addition to the timing, Stack matched the description of the body: a man between 17 and 22 years old with brown hair, brown eyes and a scar on his forehead. The sheriff’s office began working with the Broomfield Police Department in Colorado after the possible connection was made.
Now that the body has been confirmed as Stack, the state medical examiner’s office is working with his family to have his remains transported and reburied, Wimmer said.
Identifying Stack also reopens the 39-year-old homicide case and Wimmer said the sheriff’s office intends to begin by retracing its steps. That includes returning to the crime scene, following up with any past investigators and reviewing the old police records.
“Now that we have an identified victim, we can look at what his history is and where he grew up,” Wimmer said.
The investigation will also include looking for any associates who may have left with Stack and speaking with family, friends and neighbors nearly four decades after his disappearance. Wimmer also hopes that identifying the victim may encourage someone with information related to Stack’s murder to come forward.
Anyone with information connected to Stack’s disappearance or murder can contact the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office at 435-882-5600.