Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office exhumes remains buried at Richmond’s San Gabriel Cemetery 60 years after mutilated body found

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Sixty years after investigators came across a man’s mutilated body in a Fort Bend County ditch, detectives exhumed the victim’s remains, hoping technological advances could crack the cold case.

On Wednesday, the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office revealed the exhumation that happened a week prior at Richmond’s San Gabriel Cemetery.

According to the sheriff’s office, a plot held the body of a white man, about 50 years old, who, in June 1964, had been found off FM 359 near the Jones Creek Bridge with his hands and legs amputated.

Detectives said the 6-foot, 180-to-185-pound man had a broken rib but no identifying marks, proving difficult for investigators to identify the victim or detain those responsible.

The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office held the remains for 20 years before burial in 1984.

“With the significant advancements in forensic biology and DNA analysis, we hope to uncover new information that was previously unattainable,” Sheriff Eric Fagan said. “Our goal is to bring justice to the victim and provide answers to any surviving family members.”

The sheriff’s office told Eyewitness News that the county’s medical examiner’s office received the remains for an anthropological exam.

In addition, detectives said the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification received skeletal samples for a DNA analysis.

The sheriff’s office added that if the exam and analysis produce a genealogy profile, a forensic genetic genealogy investigation would be conducted to locate family members and identify the victim.

ABC13 contacted the University of North Texas about the case and is awaiting a response.

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