TBI cold cases have new evidence

Cold cases that have lost hope get answers.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is getting clues unlocked through the Unidentified Human Remains Initiative. 

It helps identify human remains, bringing potential leads. 

The latest identified was John Troutman from Pennsylvania. He was identified in July after his remains were found in 2019 in East Tennessee.

Our goal has to constantly be to focus on the innocent people and keep turning back to those cases where there’s no answers yet,” TBI Special Agent Brandon Elkins said.

That’s where the Unidentified Human Remains Initiative comes in; it helps identify victims through DNA testing. As of August 2025, there have been eight people who have been identified.

There’s hope that putting a name to remains will bring new information and potential leads about what happened to each person, their disappearance and their death. It puts TBI one step closer to cracking the case.

“I call a family, and I say, ‘We have them. This is them. We found them. This is your family member.’ To hear the joy, there’s sadness in that, but to hear the joy that they feel that someone took the time to answer the questions and someone still remembered them, and I think that’s what it’s about,” Elkins said.

But the program isn’t perfect. TBI officials said dozens of remains still need testing.

“In Tennessee, we have about 108 unidentified persons left,” Elkins said. “I want us to get to zero; that needs to be our goal.”

It’s a goal that needs funding, and that’s where U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) comes in.

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“In today’s society with our technology, it just seems something we could do,” Burchett said. “I couldn’t imagine being a family member and somebody is missing.”

Burchett was able to get federal funds through the 2024 Community Project Funding request through the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The $100,000 expands the initiative, allowing agencies across Tennessee to submit cases for testing, but he believes DNA testing for cold cases/missing people needs to be more of a priority.

“If you have a soul, I think you should really want to solve these things,” Burchett said. 

The TBI’s initiative began in 2022 after the Governor’s Office was approached with a proposal regarding specialized DNA testing involving unidentified human remains cases. It was a one-time funding of $100,000. The General Assembly approved it to be designated for cold cases.

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