DOLAN SPRINGS — On August 26, 2021, a property owner in Dolan Springs was breaking up a concrete slab in his yard when he found human remains underneath. The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, working with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tucson, identified the victim as a white or Hispanic male, over the age of 40, between 5’7” and 5’9” tall. He was believed to have been buried at the location for at least 10 years. The victim’s cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the head. Several attempts to identify the John Doe victim proved unsuccessful.
In February 2023, Othram Inc., a genetic lab in Texas, offered to assist in identifying the victim through Project Grace, a funded donation which covered all associated costs, including creating a DNA profile from the victim’s samples, the upload of the information to a genealogy database, and investigation by a forensic genetic genealogist to provide leads back to investigators for follow up to assist in his identification.
Investigators with our Special Investigations Unit (SIU) worked with the Othram genetic genealogist assigned to the case, contacting those with associated DNA matches to determine if they might have knowledge of the identity of the John Doe victim. With no significant leads from the Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG) investigation, SIU investigators posted a Facebook request for anyone with information to come forward and contact the Sheriff’s Office.
On July 29, investigators retrieved a voicemail message from a person indicating she might have information on the identity of John Doe. Investigators contacted the woman, who said her parents had lived on North Drive, the same street as that of the victim’s homicide location. She recalled that a male by the name of Chett Williams had been living with her parents around 1998-1999 and had suddenly disappeared. When she asked her parents about him, they said he had just gone and left. She thought it odd because all his personal belongings were left behind. She also said that shortly after his disappearance, her parents poured a slab of concrete at the location.
Investigators checked property records and found that the woman’s parents, identified as Bea and Alvin Hamilton, were the owners of the property where the homicide victim was located. It was also found that a male identified as Chett G. Williams, had used that address as his residence location. No records of Williams could be found after 1999, and it was found that Bea Hamilton had been the property owner in 1999. A check of Alvin Hamilton revealed he had passed away in 2006 and Bea Hamilton had passed away in 2018.
Investigators provided this information to the Othram Genetic Genealogist, who located familial information including the name of relatives living on the east coast. They were contacted telephonically and verified that Williams had gone to Arizona to live with a woman by the name of Bea Hamilton. A family reference sample was obtained from one of the relatives and was provided to Othram for genetic comparison to the John Doe victim. On Thursday (9/4), investigators were notified by the genetic genealogist that the John Doe victim was Chester G. Williams III, also known as Chett Williams.
The positive identification of this victim wouldn’t have been possible without Project Grace and Othram. The partnership between these agencies and the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office has proven to be highly successful. The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office would like to extend our sincerest gratitude for their continued assistance in these difficult cases.
