Jackson County Cold Case Victim Identified after 43 Years

Apr 1 2021

JCSO, DCI requesting public share any information with JCSO Crime Stoppers Line at 1-800-228-3203 Ext. 199

 

MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul and the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO), and the DNA Doe Project (DDP) announced today the partial remains discovered in a remote wooded area by loggers in 1978 has been identified as Dennis Regan McConn.

 

On August 15, 1978, members of a logging crew located human remains in a remote wooded tract of county forest land approximately 100 yards south of Keys Road about ¼ mile east of the intersection of Fish Creek Road in Knapp Township, Jackson County, Wisconsin. The remains were estimated to have been located in the area for several months prior to discovery. The manner of the subject’s death is believed to be homicide.

 

The remains are identified as Dennis R. McConn, born July 28, 1947. Mr. McConn went missing from Kenosha, Wis. in 1977 at the age of 29.

 

JCSO is seeking the public’s help as the investigation into the man’s death continues. Anyone with information on why Mr. McConn would have been in Jackson County, or any other knowledge of this case should contact the JCSO Crime Stoppers Line at 1-800-228-3203 Ext. 199.

 

The DNA Doe Project is a non-profit volunteer organization formed to identify unidentified deceased persons using forensic genealogy. The DNA Doe Project also would like to acknowledge the following people/organizations: DNA Solutions and the International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague for DNA extraction; HudsonAlpha for sequencing; Kevin Lord of Saber Investigations for bioinformatics; GEDmatch and FTDNA for providing their databases; and DDP’s dedicated teams of volunteer genealogists who researched and provided JCSO and DCI with the identity of the victim.

 

The investigation remains ongoing and no additional information will be released at this time.