With DNA evidence, Charlotte police identify man a decade after he went missing
Almost 10 years after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police found a man’s remains in the woods near UNC Charlotte, they have identified him with the help of researchers and DNA technology.
The man found on Jan. 29, 2016, was Kenneth Robert McCarthy, police said in a news release on Monday. He was from New Jersey originally and worked in information technology, according to CMPD.
Once detectives reached them, his family said he had been missing since 2013, according to the department.
That discovery did not come easily.
In 2022, CMPD submitted a bone sample to Othram Labs in Texas for advanced DNA testing, according to the department. That led to a genetic profile, which was shared with consumer genealogy databases GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA.
Then, in 2025, another break: CMPD’s cold case unit partnered with the Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, and after hundreds of hours of logged research, provided the potential identity of McCarthy.
Police are continuing to investigate.
Othram, a private company, has helped solve a number of high-profile cold cases around the country.
Their work helped police in New York find a suspect in a 40-year-old murder and rape case, after they got DNA from a smoothie cup’s straw. They have also identified a man whose remains were found on the banks of the Mississippi River, in Arkansas, 35 years ago. At home in Texas, they recently helped identify a murder suspect whom the local sheriff’s office says eluded charges for 40 years.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.