KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A man whose remains were found in 1988 has been identified through a partnership between the Knoxville Police Department, the Knox County Regional Forensic Center, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Unidentified Human Remains Initiative.
The remains were identified as James Robert Benson. He was 22 when last seen and from the Knoxville area. The TBI shared that his body was found on August 30, 1988, by railway workers repairing a section of track in the Coster Rail Yard area of Knoxville. His death was ruled a homicide.
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Investigators with KPD and the Knox County Regional Forensic Center worked to identify the remains using technology available at the time, but were unsuccessful, and Benson was classified as a John Doe. As efforts continued to identify him, the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Center later submitted a sample of the remains to the University of Texas Center for Human Identification, and a DNA profile was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). However, no matches were found.
In May 2023, a sample of the remains was sent to Othram, a private lab based in Texas, for forensic genealogical (FGG) DNA testing as part of the TBI Unidentified Human Remains DNA Initiative. From there, possible relatives were identified and contacted. In February 2026, agents and detectives obtained a familial DNA sample. This DNA was compared to the DNA from the remains…