(FOX40.COM) — A body found near a creek in Northern California in early 1980 that was only known for decades as John Doe #3 was identified as a Las Vegas man.
The body was found on a property off Lopes Road in Benicia. The Solano County Sheriff’s Office said that in the previous 44 years, officials could not glean more information about the remains other than that it was an adult male and that he died of corrosive esophagitis, which resulted from ingesting a chemical substance.
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In the summer of 2023, the body was exhumed and the investigation into his death resumed as part of the Doe Cold Case Project.
Over the next 15 months, investigators from the coroner’s office and forensic staff were able to conduct facial reconstruction and new DNA testing to confirm the identity.
Officials say that the person found in early 1980 was 25-year-old Donald Gene Horecka of Las Vegas…