Everett Leland Yager : Boy Links Jawbone to Dead Marine: Bergen County Students Find Clue

A heartwarming story unfolded in Bergen County, NJ, where students in a genealogy program played a crucial role in identifying the remains of a marine who tragically lost his life in a military training exercise back in 1951.

The tale begins in Arizona in 2002, when a young boy stumbled upon what he thought was an unusual rock. Little did he know that this discovery would lead to a remarkable chain of events. Years later, the boy’s parents noticed the peculiar object in his rock collection and decided to hand it over to law enforcement. To their shock, it turned out to be part of a human jawbone.

The Yavapai County, Arizona Sheriff’s Office and Yavapai County Medical Examiner sought the assistance of the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in January 2023. The investigation took a significant step forward in May 2023 when the North Texas Center for Human Identification and Intermountain Forensics conducted whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics on the jawbone fragment.

Last summer, students in the Ramapo College IGG Bootcamp, along with intern Ethan Schwartz, delved into the case. In less than two days, they unearthed a lead that was pivotal in the investigation. This breakthrough information was swiftly passed on to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

In March 2024, it was confirmed that the jawbone belonged to U.S. Marine Corps Captain Everett Leland Yager, who met his untimely demise in a military training mishap in July 1951. The identification was solidified by comparing DNA from the jawbone with that of a relative of Capt. Yager.

Plans are now underway to reunite Captain Yager’s remains with his surviving relatives, as his son passed away in 2022 and his daughter in 1979 at the young age of 28.

Decades ago, the marine’s other remains were discovered in Riverside County, California, where he was eventually laid to rest in Palmyra, Missouri. The circumstances surrounding how his jawbone ended up in Arizona remain a mystery. One theory suggests that a bird or scavenger may have carried it to the location.

This remarkable case marks the first resolution achieved by the IGG’s summer bootcamp student cohort. Ethan Schwartz, the intern involved, is believed to be one of the youngest contributors to an investigative genetic genealogy case resolution. The team’s dedication and expertise in solving this mystery have been commended by Cairenn Binder, assistant director of the Ramapo College IGG Center.