A body pulled from a lake in 1986 is that of a missing person who family say they had not seen in decades, new DNA tests confirm.
“We just assumed he was in Texas living his life, and all this time, he was dead,” his sister Gwen Tranum told local news station ABC13.
Thirty-seven years ago, Clarence Wilson was found by Montgomery county investigators in Crater Lake. He had been shot multiple times, weighted down by cement blocks, tied up with electrical cords, and thrown in the water, according to Fox26 Houston.
Crater Lake, which is believed to be more than 600ft deep, has previously been called a “dumping ground for bodies” by local news.
For 37 years, Wilson’s identity was unknown. In 2015 Fadi Rizk, a Montgomery county detective, told ABC13 that Wilson’s body had been exhumed for DNA testing, but no match had been found in the national database at that time.
Rizk took the case on in 2020 and saw “we were able to get DNA in this case prior” and “felt there was a good chance” they would be “able to get more from genealogy”, he told the outlet.
After sending the Wilson’s remains to Othram Lab in the Woodlands, they successfully got more DNA from Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) and a potential relative was identified – Gwen Tranum.
Rizk got in touch with Tranum earlier this year, received some of her DNA, and ultimately helped determine that the body from the lake was Tranum’s own brother.
Tranum told Fox26Houston that her brother disappeared in 1985. She said she called the “prison system in Texas” and even hired a private investigator before ultimately deciding that her brother probably did not want to be found.
“He’s out there somewhere in Texas and if he wants to notify us he will,” she told the outlet of her mindset at the time.
Now, despite getting closure on her brother’s whereabouts, a new mystery has emerged: what actually happened to her brother?
Tranum told Fox26Houston that the “brutality” of his death was “the hardest part”.
“If you know something, just come forward and tell you what you know, and maybe they can find someone, and we can have closure,” she said.
For his part, Rizk asks that anyone who may recognize Wilson’s name or photograph contact the Montgomery county sheriff’s office or himself directly at (936)-760-5820.
