NEWS RELEASE FROM PUEBLO COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: CBI Cold Case Team Helped Identify Remains
After nearly 25 years and countless hours of investigative work, Pueblo County Sheriff’s detectives have identified the remains of a man whose body was found in 2000 in a field just north of the Pueblo City limits.
Sheriff’s detectives announced this week that, using updated analysis of DNA, the remains found in November 2000 have been identified as Marvin Majors, who was originally from Oklahoma. Majors was 34 years old at the time of his death. He was homeless and was believed to have been sleeping in a field just north of the Walking Stick development, where his body was found by a woman walking her dog. The body, which was mostly skeletal remains, did not have any identification.
The Pueblo County Coroner’s office conducted an autopsy, and while the cause of death was undetermined, foul play was not suspected. An anthropologist was contacted to analyze the remains and estimated the man was of mixed race, between 35 to 50 years old and was between 6-foot-1 to 6foot-3 inches tall. The man also had thick black hair that was in dreadlocks.
For months after the body was found, sheriff’s detectives worked unsuccessfully to identify the man. In November 2001, a sculptor from the University of Colorado made a facial reconstruction using the man’s skull to create a clay bust. Photos of the bust were sent to the media, the public and were posted on websites for missing persons seeking help in identifying the man.
Only a few leads came in including one from a rancher who identified the man as someone who had been camping on his property in August 2000. The property was near the field where the remains were found. The rancher said the man told him he was traveling from New Mexico to Denver.
Even though the leads and tips dwindled, Sheriff’s detectives kept working on the identity of “John Doe”. In June 2021, detectives revisited the case and learned that the FBI had completed a DNA profile of the man, and that information was now in a combined national DNA database. Sheriff’s detectives obtained a new DNA sample from an item in evidence that was taken from the campsite when the body was found. With assistance from CBI, the new DNA sample was submitted to a genetic genealogy database in 2023.
In November 2024, a DNA match was made with a distant family member of Majors. Detectives then obtained a DNA sample from a suspected sibling, and it was verified this week by a Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogist that the DNA comparison matched the unidentified man, who was confirmed to be Majors.
Family members said that Majors, who was from Oklahoma and grew up in Los Angeles, lived a transient lifestyle. The family said they had not seen or heard from him since around 1998-1999 and wondered what had happened to him. They expressed appreciation for the work the detectives put forth to identify Majors.
Sheriff David J. Lucero commended the detectives who have worked on the case for the past 2 ½ decades, and especially those who worked diligently over the past three years to identify Majors and bring the case to closure.
“Through modern science and teamwork, our detectives were able to get the breakthrough they needed to identify this person,” Lucero said. “The years of dedication, diligence, and perseverance by our detectives demonstrate that no matter how old a case is, they are committed to solving it. This was somebody’s family member, and our team went above and beyond to identify him and to bring some closure to his family.”
Lucero also thanked CBI for working with the Sheriff’s Office on this case. “This shows that through our partnerships, we can solve decades-old cases.”