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In 1974, Mark Smith departed from his home in Billings, Montana, embarking on a cross-country journey from which he never returned.
Fast forward 51 years, the Oregon State Police have confirmed that a skull discovered in 1978 belongs to the long-missing teenager, finally bringing closure to a mystery that has lingered with Smith’s family for generations.
“His sister told the medical examiner’s office that the family thought of him every day during the more than 50 years since his disappearance,” the police mentioned in their statement.
The final photographs of Smith were captured at his sister’s wedding in September 1973. The following year, at age 19, he set off on his travels, and his family never heard from him again.
The Oregon State Police reported that in 1978, a logging team working in the vicinity of Holcomb Peak, Oregon, stumbled upon some skeletal remains.
According to Oregon State Police, a logging crew working near Oregon’s Holcomb Peak discovered partial skeletonized remains in the area in 1978.
“Only a skull and a scapula fragment were recovered. A piece of a shirt and remnants of a brown sweater were found near the remains and collected,” police explained. “The Josephine County Sheriff’s Office responded to the recovery site; however, no further remains were located. Despite investigative efforts, the individual could not be identified.”
Renewed Effort Reveals Clue in Mark Smith Disappearance
A forensic pathologist and odontologist initially believed the remains belonged to a female between the ages of 16 and 18, but were unable to give investigators any other clues to go on.
For years the case sat dormant, until the State Medical Examiner’s Office submitted the remains to the University of North Texas in 2020 for DNA extraction and analysis, police said. The analysis revealed the remains belonged to a male, but investigators were unable to match it to any known missing persons cases and there was “insufficient nuclear DNA” to create a full profile to upload to the national CODIS database.
That same year, authorities noted in the release, the private DNA laboratory DNA Labs International (DLI) agreed to work the case pro bono with the medical examiner’s Human Identification Program to try to enhance the DNA testing. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) also joined the effort, commissioning a forensic artist to complete facial reconstruction of the skull.
“Despite these efforts,” police said, “no new information emerged at the time.”
Genealogical Leads Help Investigators Identify Remains of Mark Smith
The “first genealogical leads” came around 2023 when DLI was able to create a ancestry summary of the remains, concluding that the deceased had been a blend of North Atlantic, Baltic and Western Mediterranean heritage, authorities noted in the release.
“Genealogists were able to identify an ancestor born in the early 1800s from whom the unidentified individual descended,” police said. “However, the family line stalled shortly thereafter, and even whole genome sequencing could only identify distant lineage.”
Then in September of 2025, investigators discovered that a new DNA kit had been submitted that helped them build out the family tree and identify a family with several siblings, one of whom had disappeared in 1974.
Authorities collected buccal swabs from the family to match to the remains. DLI confirmed on Feb. 25 that the family samples were a match, finally allowing the Human Identification Program and State Medical Examiner’s Office to conclusively identify the remains as Smith.
Police said there’s no evidence to suggest the teen was a victim of foul play, however, they are still working to retrace his final movements.
“We are grateful that Mark has finally been returned to his family,” state forensic anthropologist Hailey Collord-Stalder said. “This identification reflects years of persistence, scientific collaboration, and the evolving power of forensic genetic genealogy.”
Smith’s family has asked for privacy in the wake of the discovery.
The identification, according to police, was a joint effort by numerous agencies including the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office, DLI, the University of North Texas, NCMEC, and the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office.