Victim Identified In Decades-Old Glen Burnie Homicide Cold Case

GLEN BURNIE, MD — Thanks to new technology, the Anne Arundel County Police Department shared June 19 in a press conference that investigators have identified a "John Doe" homicide victim in a 34-year-old case. The cold case dates back to April 23, 1985, when construction crews with Cherry Hill Construction Company stumbled across a buried metal trash can while clearing the ground to build Marley Station Mall. What the workers found inside shocked them.

Human remains had been packed into the trash can. The medical examiner at that time ruled the victim's cause of death to be severe upper body trauma from homicide. But genetic genealogy, a lead generation tool used by Parabon NanoLabs, determined the victim had been dead much longer than 1985. Genetic genealogy can be used to identify human remains by linking DNA to a family with a missing person or reveal the likely identity of an individual whose DNA was found at a crime scene, the police department explained.

Timothy J. Altomare, chief of police, said the technology used by Parabon NanoLabs allowed authorities to identify the victim in this cold case as Roger Hearne Kelso. Kelso graduated from Glen Burnie High School in 1961 and was president of the art club there.

Police have notified surviving family members, who also were interviewed by detectives and the FBI earlier this month. Those conversations revealed that Kelso had actually been missing decades before his remains had been discovered. Family members recalled Kelso last being seen in the summer of 1962. He had told his family he was taking off and not to worry about him, the police department shared. Evidence found at the scene indicates Kelso was murdered in 1963.

The Anne Arundel County Police cold case unit asks that anyone who knew Kelso to contact them at 410-222-4731 or call the TipLine at (410) 222-4700.