John Doe Mariner Found in Monterey Bay in 2021 Now Identified

A decayed body found just outside Monterey Bay in 2021 has now been identified, 28 years after being listed as missing. The remains had been tangled in a fishing net, enclosed in black fleece long johns and found with five keys and two coins, and no identification..

Forensic investigators were able to determine the bones likely belonged to a man aged between 35 and 50, around 6 feet 3 inches tall. At the time it was unclear how long he had been adrift in the ocean. “Broken ends of the tibia and humerus were uneven, suggesting marine decomposition and ‘scavenging activity’,” SFGate reported this month. Despite extensive investigations, and scrutiny by the Missing and Unidentified Persons Section of the California Department of Justice, the man was not identified and the case details were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP99784.

In 2022, the Monterey County Cold Case Task Force worked with Othram, a forensics laboratory based in Texas, to use advanced DNA processes and forensic genetic genealogy to try identify the remains.

The results show the remains belong to Jeffrey Lyndon Hulliger, born on May 30, 1960. According to the report published by DNASolves.com, Hulliger was 36 years old when he was lost at sea with a friend while fishing in Monterey Bay on January 14, 1997. His friend and boatmate, Greg Mitchell, has never been found. After the duo sent out a distress signal from their boat, the Salmon Patty, the Coast Guard attempted to locate the vessel, which was reported to have been taking on water.

Newspaper accounts at the time reported the Coast Guard launched “a multi-day search with volunteers, two Coast Guard cutters, a helicopter and an airplane.” Although the mariners’ boat was equipped with a life raft, two survival suits and an electronic satellite beacon, no signal from the beacon was ever received. Neither the boat nor their remains were located, and both men were presumed drowned.

DNASolves.com reports that two years after the pair’s disappearance, Hulliger’s brother told reporters that he had “tried to convince Jeffrey Hulliger to not go out fishing for black cod that day because the weather was so bad.” He believed his brother and Mitchell drowned when their boat capsized in 18-foot waves off Point Reyes.