COCONINO COUNTY, Ariz. — Human remains found in a remote area of Arizona nearly 50 years ago have finally been identified as a Vietnam veteran from Minnesota.
The Coconino County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) announced Wednesday that the remains - discovered in April of 1975 by farmers chasing a runaway pig - have been identified as Gerald Francis Long, who relocated to Arizona after serving in the military during the Vietnam war.
Sheriff's officials say Long's remains were discovered off a road about 40 miles east of Flagstaff. For 49 years, efforts to identify the remains were unsuccessful, and the person they belonged to was called "Munsingwear Doe" by investigators because of a jacket found nearby.
It appeared that the person had been dead between two months and a year. He was described as a white male between 25 and 30 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall and about 175-190 pounds.
The process that led to Long's identification began in August of 2023, when the sheriff's office contracted with Intermountain Forensics of Salt Lake City. A genetic genealogy DNA profile was developed using Intermountain's precision forensic technology and compared with existing genealogy profiles. Intermountain was then able to identify a family line, and by February had identified Gerald Long as a potential match.
A family member told CCSO investigators that Long enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1969 and deployed to Vietnam later that year. He returned home to Minnesota in February of 1972, was discharged from the Army and told his family he was leaving for the west coast. That was the last time they heard from him.
The FBI's latent fingerprint unit was able to compare prints from the human remains to known fingerprint records from Gerald Long and it was a positive match.
While an identification has been made, Long's cause of death remains unknown.
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