Skeleton in rolled-up carpet in Michigan is ID’d 28 years later, officials say
A man looking to buy a property in a Detroit suburb in 1997 was surveying it when he unrolled a piece of carpet to reveal a disturbing find.
Clothes, jewelry and skeletal remains spilled out of the piece of carpet in a field on the Plymouth Township property 28 years ago, but officials say the remains had been there for years, according to a June 25 news release from DNASolves.
After years of investigation and DNA testing, the remains were identified as Benjamin Harrison Fountain, officials said.
Fountain was born in 1926 and would have been in his 70s if he was found alive in 1997, according to investigators.
He was born in Virginia and was drafted to serve in World War II, according to DNASolves. He also lived in West Virginia and Detroit.
An initial investigation determined he died of a head injury, and his death was ruled a homicide, officials said. No suspects or persons of interest in the man’s death were disclosed by authorities.
Investigators knew little about the man when he was found but determined he was an adult man with a slim body, according to DNASolves.
During the decades-long investigation, officials tested the clothing found with him and tried to determine the origin of the class ring found in the carpet, but still, none of the leads led to his identification.
DNA testing started in 2015, but no match to his profile was made, officials said. His DNA was later sent to the Othram lab in Texas where a DNA profile was created and new leads into his identity were found, according to investigators.
A potential relative was identified, officials said, and the relative’s DNA sample ultimately identified Fountain.
Fountain was buried May 16, with his name on his grave, in Brownstown Township, according to officials.
Plymouth Township is about a 30-mile drive west from Detroit.
