Nearly 27 years later, investigators said a bone that washed up on a California beach was positively matched to a missing father of three.
On Dec. 14, 1999, Jonathan Raxa, 37, was one of four crew members aboard the commercial fishing vessel Silver Spray.
The boat was at the entrance to Humboldt Bay in Northern California when it was struck by a large wave that ripped the vessel’s pilot house from the boat.
Al Burns, the boat’s skipper, told the Los Angeles Times that he watched in horror as the 18-foot wave swallowed the crew. A second breaker sank the 35-foot boat and carried Burns away.
Investigators matched a human bone that washed ashore to Jonathan Raxa, 37, a fisherman who was lost at sea in 1999. (Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office)
The entrance to Humboldt Bay in Northern California. (John Ferrara/KTLA)
As he tumbled underwater, he recalled thinking, “I had a good feeling I was going to die.”
He eventually surfaced about a hundred yards away and grabbed a five-gallon oil can drifting nearby to stay afloat. Two other crewmen scrambled aboard a raft and eventually pulled Burns to safety.
However, the fourth crew member, Raxa, was lost at sea and could not be found.
As the case remained under investigation by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, detectives located Raxa’s son and obtained a family DNA sample.
The sample was submitted to the California Department of Justice and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
In March 2026, deputies responded to Centerville Beach after a human bone was discovered. Investigators confirmed the bone was a human sacrum.
The bone was turned over to the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office, which submitted it to the California Department of Justice for DNA analysis.
After the obtained DNA was entered into CODIS, authorities were notified that the bone’s DNA had been traced back to Raxa.
A father of three, Raxa had been working on the boat to earn money for a trip to his native Laos, the L.A. Times reported.
“This case highlights the importance of collecting and preserving DNA samples from family members of missing persons,” the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “These samples can provide critical investigative leads and assist law enforcement in identifying missing persons and resolving cases, even decades after a person’s disappearance.”
Authorities notified Raxa’s family about the identification, bringing the nearly 27-year-old missing person case to a close.
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