30-Year Cold Case Solved: Human Remains Identified

Over three decades after their discovery, human remains found by loggers near a California campsite have been identified as George Krusely. The identification was confirmed on August 27, 2026, by the Placer County Sheriff's Office and the Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center.

Loggers initially found a partial human skull near Lake Putt on July 7, 1994. Investigators believed the campsite had been in use for about a year. The remains and associated items were stored as evidence, but a cause of death could not be determined at the time.

Advances in DNA testing and forensic genealogy, conducted by California's Department of Justice and Othram Inc., eventually yielded a viable DNA sample. This was submitted to Ramapo's IGG Center in January 2025, where staff and students worked to trace Krusely's descendants, with assistance from the Lordstown Police Department in Ohio.

George Krusely, born in April 1929, was last known to be in California in 1963 and had a prior breaking and entering conviction. The complex nature of his ancestry, being Croatian and Yugoslavian, initially posed challenges due to limited representation in DNA databases. The Ramapo IGG Center has now resolved or is actively working on 89 cases.