The remains of two Vietnam War veterans were identified in Arizona after decades of classification as John Does.
This month, a genetic genealogy company announced the identities of the two missing men as Edwin “Edd” (or, “Eddie”) Coulter Mowrey and David “Dave” Michael Resnik. Both men were identified through an identity inference pipeline methodology carried out by Othram, a forensics sequencing laboratory based in Texas.
Othram’s pipeline methodology investigates biological evidence through DNA extraction and sequencing, profile generation, database search and relationship analysis, and genealogical inference.
Both Mowrey and Resnik disappeared shortly after returning from the Vietnam War. For over 50 years, their families searched for answers to explain what happened to their loved ones.
Mowrey was born around 1948. A polaroid depicting him as a young man seated on a porch noted that he served in the Army and associated him with the 101st Airborne Division, 365 Engineers Battalion, and 82nd Airborne Division.
Mowrey’s partial, skeletal remains were discovered in August 1983 by construction workers. Mowrey’s remains were buried near a building alongside a time capsule and collection of non-human bones in Prescott. Officials haven’t provided further reporting on the circumstances of Mowrey’s death.
According to the obituary of his older brother and fellow Army veteran, Irvin Mowrey, Mowrey went missing in 1971 (though his sister, Liz Mowrey, dated his disappearance as 1974 in a Facebook posting). Leading up to his disappearance, Mowrey was reportedly living in Yavapai County, where his sister, Liz Mowrey, reported him as attending college.
According to another social media post from his sister, Mowrey disappeared after leaving their parent’s home in Ash Fork. Mowrey’s sister speculated that Mowrey may have been suffering from PTSD due to the Vietnam War.
Ash Fork is over 50 miles north of Prescott.
Working with Othram, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and the Yavapai County Office of the Medical Examiner identified 1983 Prescott John Doe as Edwin Mowrey, a military veteran whose remains were discovered in a remote area near Prescott. #dnasolveshttps://t.co/34zmoptzJA
— Othram Inc. (@othram) June 18, 2026
Resnik was born on Christmas Day in 1947. He served in the Vietnam War as an Army medic. At the time of his disappearance, Resnik was reportedly residing in Tucson.
Resnik’s skeletal remains were discovered in February 1976 on the Baboquivari Mountains in Pima County. Resnik would have been about 28 years old when his remains were discovered. Officials suspect Resnik may have disappeared around 1972 and possibly died of exposure during a snowstorm.
Newspaper ads placed in Hawaii and Arizona throughout the early 1970s indicate that Resnik’s family continued searching for him. These ads included a picture of Resnik along with messages from his father and sister in California asking Resnik to call home and members of the public to mail in tips about Resnik’s whereabouts. Ads were placed in multiple states’ newspapers because Resnik’s family members weren’t confident about his residency at the time of his disappearance.
Nearly 50 years after his death, the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner teamed with Othram to identify 1976 John Doe as David Michael Resnik. #dnasolveshttps://t.co/pGWyNy2viO
— Othram Inc. (@othram) June 17, 2026
Earlier this month, genetic genealogy identified the skeletal remains of another unidentified individual: Bullhead City’s May 1989 Jane Doe murder victim (aka “Castleberry Kate”) was identified as Sonya Alice Langan.
Investigators estimated Langan’s death as having occurred two to 10 years prior to the discovery of her remains. Langan’s skull contained a bullet hole, with the bullet believed to have killed her still inside.
Following Langan’s identification, investigators discovered from Langan’s family that she had never been formally reported missing to law enforcement, and that she had left home around 1982 when she was between 17 and 18 years old.
The Bullhead City Police Department is actively investigating Langan’s murder. Anyone who knew Langan or may have information related to her disappearance or death should contact the department at (928) 763-9200.
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