DNA Technology Solves Two Humboldt County Cold Cases Spanning Decades

Two men who died in Humboldt County decades apart finally have their names back.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office announced the conclusion of two separate cases in which human remains that went unidentified for decades have now been identified. The April 1 announcement named Charles Marrs, whose remains were recovered from the Trinity River, and Gregory Hugh Oliver, whose partial skull was found off Fickle Hill Road in Arcata in 1996.

In July 2025, the Sheriff's Office received a report from Othram indicating the DNA profile may belong to Charles Marrs. The report showed several genetic relatives, including a nephew of Marrs. Investigators contacted the nephew, who said his uncle had drowned in the Trinity River. The nephew provided a DNA sample, which was sent to the California DOJ for comparison. In March 2026, the California DOJ notified the Sheriff's Office that the two DNA samples were related, confirming the remains belonged to Charles Marrs.

In May 1993, Charles Marrs, 63 years old, fell into the Trinity River near the Big Rock River Access area in Willow Creek. A California Highway Patrol officer and Humboldt County Sheriff's deputies responded to the call. His remains went unidentified for more than three decades.

The Oliver case presented a separate forensic challenge. In August 1996, the Arcata Police Department responded to a report of a human skull found off Fickle Hill Road. The Humboldt County Coroner's Office took possession of the remains, and a DNA sample was obtained, but it was determined to be degraded due to exposure to the elements. The partial DNA profile was entered into both the California Missing Persons DNA Database and the National Unidentified Persons DNA Index and routinely compared against profiles in CODIS, but no matches were identified.

In December 2025, the Sheriff's Office received a report from Othram indicating the DNA profile may belong to Gregory Hugh Oliver, who had been reported missing to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in Florida. Oliver was last seen by family in 1983. Investigators located a DNA sample from Oliver's mother, which was submitted to the California DOJ for comparison. That comparison confirmed the identification in March 2026.

The Sheriff's Office extended gratitude to the California Department of Justice DNA Laboratory and Othram Inc. for their work in resolving the cases. The office also thanked Representative Jared Huffman for securing the funding necessary to complete the work.

The two confirmations arrived in the same month, more than 30 years after Marrs entered the water at Willow Creek and nearly three decades after the skull was discovered in the hills above Arcata. The cases illustrate how improvements in genome sequencing, which have made it practical to reconstruct usable profiles from samples once considered too damaged to process, are changing the calculus on cold cases that once seemed permanently stalled.

Anyone with additional information related to either case can contact the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office at 707-445-7251.