Jawbone Of Marine Who Died In Training Exercise ID'd By NJ College Students

Students at Ramapo College helped identify the missing remains of a marine who had been dead for 73 years.

A Ramapo College class helped identify a US Marine killed in a training exercise more than half-a-century ago.
Photo Credit: *Courtesy of Ramapo College*

04/22/2024 10:59 a.m.

In July of 1951, Leland Yager, a U.S. Marines Captain, died in a military training exercise. His remains were recovered in California and buried in Missouri.

Years later, a child was doing a scavenging exploration in Arizona when they discovered an unidentified human jaw bone. Last year, enforcement in Arizona referred the case to the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center and students began working on the case, along with the North Texas Center for Human Identification and the Intermountain Forensics in Utah.

It took Ramapo students less than two days to produce a candidate lead, and DNA was taken from Yager's daughter to compare to the jaw bone profile. Last month, the DNA sample from Yager's daughter confirmed a parent/child relationship and confirming the jaw bone was Yager's.

It is unknown how the jaw bone traveled from California to Arizona, though a theory is a bird picked it up and dropped it during its travels. The remains will be reunited with the family.

This is the first case resolution performed by Ramapo's Investigative Genetic Genealogy summer bootcamp, the school said.

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