Dead Man’s Cove: Anatomy of a John Doe Case
The Story of Franklin Feldman
As spring approaches in upstate New York, a farmer out surveying his property, finds a dead body at the edge of his field and calls authorities. But before police could even explore the ‘whodunnit’, they had to determine ‘who is it?’
This gruesome discovery of a decomposing body in 1981 quickly became a cold case when the John Doe did not match any missing persons in the region. Years would pass before an intrepid police sergeant was tasked with finding the case file – a challenge unto itself. The search for the identity of John Doe became a monumental investigation in which the sergeant would be faced with several obstacles ranging from destroyed records and misplaced bones, to legislative hurdles and a novel epidemic. But in this case, perseverance paid off.
When Bethlehem, NY police officer Adam Horning was promoted to sergeant in 2013 he was tasked with updating the John Doe record from 1981 that had been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) as unidentified human remains. But that was the first mystery – no one who worked the case in 1981 was still on the force. Then, Sgt. Hornick was unable to find the official files which had apparently been destroyed when town records storage area had been flooded – on 2 occasions. So he sets off to re-create the case file.
The NCIC record was also filed with the Ne York State Division of Criminal Jstice Services which, fortunately, kept paper copies of records of unidentified deceased persons. Sgt. Hornick was able to get those records which included a copy of the original Bethlehem police reports, detectives notes, and a sketch of the area where the body was recovered.
Hornick learned that on April 3, 1981, Frank Vadney, the owner of a farm on the edge of the town of 25,000, discovered a body and called Bethlehem, NY Police. The partially decomposed body was clothed and there were some papers scattered nearby. But there was no wallet or any identifying information as to the man’s identity. The body was sent to the Medical Examiner’s office for autopsy.
Hornick scrutinized the limited information he had in front of him. But most interesting to Hornick was that the NCIC record indicated, “jaw bones available.” But Hornick, who was also in charge of the department’s evidence room, knew that there was no evidence from that case with his agency. He assembled some of the former detectives and contacted the Medical Examiner’s (M.E.) office to learn as much as he could about the original investigation and any theories about the man’s identity or cause of death. The M.E. provided some preliminary notes about the case to Hornick along with the M.E. case number: 81-078. That number was burned into his memory.
Sgt. Hornick spent countless hours poring through records of missing persons from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System – NAMUS. He found about 10 cases with similarities, and he compared every one, but found no matches to his John Doe. In the back of his mind, he kept thinking about the notation from the NCIC record that indicated “jaw bones available” – he needed to find those bones! He began checking the dentist’s name who had completed the original dental charts for the John Doe, but learned that he retired and was living in Arizona. But the dentist told him that his former office was still in operation. Hornick located a telephone number for the dentist’s office and made the cold call. Linda Haner answered the phone. She had worked at the dental office since the 1980’s. Hornick asked her if it was possible if there were any old records that might be on file. Haner remembered the call. “As soon as he explained that he was looking for old cases I knew exactly what he was talking about.” Haner knew that the former dentist had done several dental identifications for law enforcement over the years and that some bones were maintained in the office. As she went through the box of old bones, she came across a specimen marked “81-078”. When she told Sgt. Horning that number, he told Haner,, “Those are my bones, I’m on my way.” Hornick met with Haner and retrieved the decades-old jaw bones.
Sgt. Hornick’s next move was to determine whether he cold get a DNA specimen from the bones. But first, he needed to get them identified to be sure that they were the same as what was recorded in the original NCIC report. Working with renowned forensic odontologist Dr. Lowell Levine, the bones were compared to the original dental charts and matched. Hornick could now go forward with an attempt to retrieve DNA. Fortunately, the specimens were preserved by the original dentist as a lab case and were in good condition. Hornick sent the bones to some labs for analysis and was provided with a partial DNA string. With each incremental step Hornick took, he was becoming more optimistic that he might be able to give his unidentified an identity other than John Doe. He sent the DNA profile to the State of New York to begin the process for familial DNA. But then came answer he didn’t expect – the law in New York State did not permit the use of genetic genealogy for identifying an unknown deceased person. Hornick, who had now been promoted to Commander in his department, continued to work the case. He was committed to it and was not ready to hand it off to anyone else. He called a press conference in December 2019 to talk about the case and hoped that the publicity might cause a change to change the law. Hornick said that it seemed that the strategy was being successful, but then COVID struck, and everything slowed down, including the state legislature.
Knowing that the existing laws in New York State were holding him back, he called the FBI to see if they would take the case – and they did. A federal laboratory like the FBI was not constrained to the law and regulations of a state lab, so Hornick thought this was his next best shot. About 6 months after submitting the case to the FBI, the law in New York State was changed, so Hornick also submitted the case to New York State. But once again, the state lab said ‘no’, the sample he was submitting was insufficient under their guidelines. But a few months later, Hornick got news from the FBI – they had developed a lead. Hornick said that the FBI had determined a fourth-cousin kinship ratio, and were building a family tree, but most of the people were deceased. That is, except for a woman in Massachusetts who provided a DNA swab. But even before the results came back, the woman told agents that the description and circumstances sounded like it could be her nephew: Franklin Feldman. The woman explained that the family had not seen Franklin in 50 years, that he suffered from some mental health issues, and was in upstate New York at one time. Police also located another cousin who also provided a DNA swab, which confirmed the identification – the man who had been buried in a pauper’s grave in 1981 was Franklin Feldman. The two DNA swabs provided by family members would turn out to be related as an aunt and first cousin.
For Commander Adam Hornick, his tireless efforts to rebuild the case file, locate the bones, pursue the DNA evidence, and overcome regulatory hurdles, were vindication. Hornick says it was a fortunate circumstance to learn the identity when they did, telling APB Cold Case that if they didn’t identify the remains soon, the possibility of identifying any surviving family members for DNA would have become more remote. But police now know the deceased man’s identity – the man who was found at the corner of the farmer’s property dubbed as Dead Man’s Cove ever the remains were discovered on the Vadney Farm in 1981. Family members who never really knew Franklin, but know of him, can also draw some relief in knowing that he has been found. But, as Hornick said, the mystery of how Feldman died is still unanswered. Because of the condition of the body when found, there is no official cause and manner of death. The case remains open at Bethlehem Police Department. Anyone who knew Feldman or who has information about him can contact detectives at 518-439-9973.
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