Georgia investigators identify gunshot victim using DNA genealogy

For nearly 30 years, investigators knew the dead man only as an unidentified gunshot victim found in Decatur. Now DeKalb County has restored his name: Jerome Scott, born Nov. 11, 1954.

Scott’s remains were discovered on June 22, 1996, shortly after a shooting on Ansley Street. Investigators determined the adult male had died from a gunshot wound after entering a residence. He was entered into NamUs as UP99143, and the case sat for decades with only fragments of his final moments: a dark pullover shirt with the logo “Conversion Experience,” dark blue and black sweatpants, and purple, black and gold Nike athletic shoes.

The breakthrough came after the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram in September 2025. Scientists there used forensic-grade genome sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile, then ran a genetic genealogy search that generated investigative leads and pointed detectives toward possible relatives. Reference samples from those relatives were compared through KinSNP Rapid Relationship Testing, which confirmed the identification.

The case is another marker of how aggressively DeKalb County has pushed its cold-case work. The district attorney’s office created the DeKalb County Cold Case Task Force in 2022 with the Medical Examiner’s Office, the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the DeKalb County Police Department and a private lab partner. In October 2022, the county received a $496,045 Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Program grant to identify 27 people found in DeKalb County. As of May 18, 2026, county officials said the task force had identified 17 individuals and was still working 32 active unidentified-remains cases.

The identification also landed during a busy stretch for the county’s outreach effort. On May 17, 2026, DeKalb held its 4th Annual Missing Persons and DNA Event at Avondale Estates Town Green, giving families a place to share information, update reports and donate DNA samples. The county’s cold-case tip line is 404-371-2444, and callers may remain anonymous.

Othram and DNASolves describe Scott’s case as the 31st publicly announced Georgia identification using Othram’s identity inference pipeline, nearly 30 years after the remains were discovered. The name is back, but the central question has not changed: what happened inside that residence after Jerome Scott walked in?