Cold Case Files: Skull found in Carroll County in 2024 has yet to identified through DNA testing

On December 11, 2024, a woman walking her dog on her private property near County Road 1190 and West Leatherwood Creek, downstream from Black Bass Lake southwest of Eureka Springs in Carroll County discovered a human skull and additional bone fragments.

She immediately contacted authorities. Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded and recovered the remains. Investigators described them as skeletal remains of an adult White male. Some accounts emphasized a largely isolated skull with usable teeth, which Sheriff Daniel Klatt later called unusual because recovered remains are more often intact or mostly intact.

The remains were sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, where a forensic anthropologist concluded they most likely belonged to an adult White man.

Investigators considered possibilities ranging from historical interments, such as Civil War-era or older graves and Native American sites, to more recent missing persons cases. Foul play has not been ruled out.

Sheriff Klatt’s office compared the remains against local missing persons cases, narrowing the list to roughly four or five stronger candidates and collecting family reference samples from some for potential comparison. Traditional DNA work at the state lab faced limitations: while there was a high probability a profile could be developed from remaining teeth, the lab lacked the specialized capability for the required extraction

. With few viable leads, the case cooled, and local officials began referring to the unidentified man as “Inspiration Doe.”

In 2025, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Othram, a private forensic laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas, that specializes in Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing and forensic genetic genealogy. The plan was to extract DNA, reportedly focusing on teeth, build a comprehensive genetic profile, and upload it to genealogical databases to identify potential relatives.

The specialized testing cost approximately $7,500, beyond the typical budget of a rural sheriff’s office. Funding came from contributions by the Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office using civil forfeiture funds, a local business, portions from the sheriff’s office, public crowdfunding through Othram’s DNASolves platform, and a $5,846 donation from the Arkansas Attorney General’s office in November 2025.

Attorney General Tim Griffin, who established a Cold Case Unit in his office’s Special Investigations Division in 2024, described the support as helping local agencies obtain resources they might otherwise lack.

By late October and into November 2025, Othram reported successful DNA extraction. Work shifted to building the profile and searching for genetic matches. Officials, including Sheriff Klatt and AG Griffin, expressed hope that an identification could come within weeks to a few months.

Prosecuting Attorney Tony Rogers and others stressed the multi-agency cooperation involving the sheriff, coroner, prosecutor, and Othram, along with the importance of restoring a name and, if foul play is confirmed, pursuing justice.

As of the most recent available public reporting in mid-2026, the remains known as Inspiration Doe, Carroll County John Doe (2024), or NamUs UP149790 have not been publicly identified. Advanced genetic genealogy work has continued or been completed without an announced match producing a confirmed identity.

No cause of death or definitive timeline of when the man died has been released.

The case illustrates the challenges of unidentified remains in rural areas, including limited local forensic capacity, scattered potential matches among long-term missing persons, and the high cost of advanced DNA technology, as well as the growing use of public-private partnerships and genetic genealogy to close those gaps.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office. Individuals who have taken consumer DNA tests can also consider opting into forensic genetic genealogy matching programs that assist cases like this.

Law enforcement has repeatedly stressed that no person should remain unidentified if it can be helped. The quiet creek-side discovery in December 2024 still waits for a name, a story, and potentially answers for a family somewhere.