THE WOODLANDS, Texas — There’s a mystery in Galveston, and police are hoping you can help solve the case.
Investigators are working with Othram, a DNA Lab based in The Woodlands, to identify a man who was found dead, floating just off the shore, earlier this year.
On the West End, where residential beach houses dot the island, a visitor noticed something strange. It was Mother’s Day, May 10, near Kahala Beach.
“When officers arrived, they found a dark-skinned male, wearing swimming attire, that floated up on to the beach,” said Detective Dannie Simpson with Galveston Police.
We asked Det. Simpson if he suspected foul play.
“We don’t know what happened to the individual. We just know his body washed up on the beach," he said.
There’s no name, no missing persons report. There is only this sketch to drum up leads, so investigators went in a new direction.
“We’re the first lab in the U.S. to do the entire process from evidence all the way to genealogy and ID completely in house,” said Dr. David Mittelman, CEO of Othram. “We know from genetic analysis that it’s very likely that the young man is not African American, that he is actually African, and we think he might belong to an ethnic group called Bantu.”
We contacted the Somali Bantu Community of Greater Houston. Its leaders told us there are around 3,000 Somali Bantu refugees living in Houston.
To solve this mystery, investigators are counting on someone recognizing this sketch and coming forward.
“There’s a good chance there might be community folks here in the Houston Galveston area that might know him," Dr. Mittelman said.
Investigators believe this man was between 18 to 35 years old and was around 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds. He was wearing black shorts, gray Calvin Klein boxers and had white Under Armour sandals.
To read more about the case, click here, and if you have any information, call Galveston Police at (409) 765-3702.