Investigators have identified a man whose remains were found near Ojai more than 40 years ago.
Partial skeletal remains were found by hikers near mile marker 43.5 of Highway 33 in February 1981, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Investigators determined the man was in his late 20s or 30s and was about 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8. They also found a “green army-style jacket and two pairs of glasses.”
In 2004, a partial DNA profile was created for the man, and recent advances in technology allowed investigators to locate his family, who had not seen him in 50 years.
DNA testing confirmed those remains to be those of Thomas Aquinas Cooney, “a Vietnam War veteran and Bronze Star recipient, born October 5, 1950, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania,” the VCSO said.
Cooney’s cause of death could not be determined, and officials said “very little” is known about his life or his death.
Anyone with information is asked to call 805-383-8739 or email coldcase@venturacounty.gov.
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