Date of Discovery: October 17, 1997
Location of Discovery: Mt. Veeder, Napa County, California
Estimated Date of Death: 1981 - 1982
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only
Cause of Death: Suicide or homicide by gunshot
Estimated Age: 26-32 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8"
Weight: Unknown. Thin to medium build.
Hair Color: Possibly brown. Strands found at the scene.
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: An anthropologist speculated he may have ridden horses during life, as a build-up of calcium on one bone indicated.
Dentals: Available. Expensive gold fillings in six of his teeth (possibly more, but the mandible was not recovered). The dental work indicates he may have been affluent or in the military.
Fingerprints: Not available
DNA: Available
Clothing: Levi jeans with burgundy pockets, multi-colored down vest, blue sweatshirt, navy blue Ralph Lauren Polo pull-over shirt (size-medium), New Balance (770-770W) running shoes (size 11), fibers that are consistent (with the likelihood) that he was wearing a burgundy polyester vest and aviator style gold rim sunglasses.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: A heavy leather backpack (possibly handmade), unknown manufacturer, filled with personal items, which was in pretty good shape considering the time lapse and the weather. The other personal items were untraceable. A Smirnoff Vodka Bottle, Valium tablets (10mg) and hashish. Budweiser beer cans - The particular brand of Budweiser didn't come out on the grocery shelves until after 1980. A Ruger Bearcat .22 cal. revolver, that was traced to the Phoenix, Arizona area. It was rusted shut and the serial number was unclear.
In 1997, landowners surveying their property lines on Mount Veeder discovered the victim's partial skeletal in a remote area. The skull, a foot still inside a weatherbeaten sock, and several other bones and fragments were found.
The bullet hole in the right temple of the skull was made by a .22-caliber Ruger handgun. Authorities are not sure if it was self-inflicted or homicide. He most likely was not a transient.
Law enforcement nicknamed the man "The Mt. Veeder Man."
Agency Name: Napa County Coroner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Steven Paris, Medicolegal Death Investigator
Agency Phone Number: 707-253-4256
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: C97-612
NCIC Case Number: U069437669
NamUs Case Number: 8634
NamUs
Napa Valley Register Archive (11/18/07)
Napa County
Added: 12/20/2005; Last Updated: 07/04/2024
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information may be estimated.
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