John Doe found in St. Paul in 1985 identified

The remains of a man found in 1985 in St. Paul have officially been identified as 33-year-old Frank Augenti, according to the DNA Doe Project.

Augenti’s remains were initially found on Feb. 7, 1985, on the second floor of the abandoned JJ Hill building. The man was believed to have been homeless and authorities determined that he died of exposure weeks to months before being found.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office brought the case to the DNA Doe Project, which began working on the case in May 2024.

After two days, investigators honed in on his identity. Augenti was born in Pennsylvania and his last known address was in New York, the DNA Doe Project said. All four of his grandparents were Italian immigrants.

Investigators saw that he had “dropped off the radar” in the 1980s, and found more evidence connecting him to the John Doe.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the identity in August.

“We were very fortunate that a cousin had chosen to upload their DNA results to GEDmatch,” said Lisa Ivany, team co-leader. “Without their DNA, this case would still be unsolved. Italian Americans are underrepresented on the DNA databases we have access to, but the more that people upload their DNA results to GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA or DNAJustice, the more cases we’ll be able to solve.”

More information is available here.