The Boulder County Coroner's Office has positively identified Douglas Sumner, 22, as the individual whose remains were discovered on the upper northern rim of Blue Mesa in Bluebell Canyon on August 21, 1971, more than 50 years after his death.

The identification concludes decades of forensic and investigative work. The Boulder County Coroner's Office is now seeking the public's assistance to locate Sumner's surviving family members so they may be notified.

Advances in forensic science, including DNA analysis and investigative genetic genealogy, made the identification possible. Such cases typically require collaboration among medicolegal death investigators, forensic pathologists, forensic scientists, law enforcement agencies, and national partners over years or decades.

Anyone with information about Sumner's surviving family is encouraged to contact the Boulder County Coroner's Office at 303-441-3535.