David Arthur Stack (July 5, 1957 – June 9, 1976) was an American man who was murdered while hitchhiking from his home in

Broomfield, Colorado Broomfield is a consolidated city and county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. Broomfield has a consolidated government which operates under Article XX, Sections 10-13 of the Constitution of the State of Colorado. The Broomfield populati ...

to California. Stack was murdered by an unknown assailant or assailants in

Wendover, Utah Wendover is a city on the western edge of Tooele County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,115 at the 2020 census. Description Wendover is on the western border of Utah and is contiguous with West Wendover, Nevada. Interstate 80 runs ...

. His body was found approximately one day after his murder in a landfill in rural Tooele County, although he remained an

unidentified decedent Unidentified decedent or unidentified person (also abbreviated as UID or UP) is a term in American English used to describe a corpse of a person whose identity cannot be established by police and medical examiners. In many cases, it is several ...

for 39 years until 2015 when his body was identified via a comparison of both

dental records The Ballistics were a ska band from Ipswich, England. Formed in 2002, they have built up a healthy following across the UK and have garnered airplay in the U.S., Germany, Argentina and Brazil. The band's first album, '' Go Ballistic'', was rele ...

and genetic testing.

Disappearance

Stack graduated from high school in 1975 and later decided to hitchhike, likely to visit relatives in California. He was last seen on June 1, 1976, at his residence in Broomfield, Colorado. After his departure, he was never seen again; the relatives who lived at his presumed destination had never witnessed his arrival. While being treated as a missing person before his body was identified, Stack was excluded from thirteen other

cases.

Discovery and examination

A young man's body was located in a landfill in Tooele County, Utah on June 10, 1976. The victim was estimated to be between seventeen and twenty-two years of age, and had dark brown wavy hair that was shoulder-length with a faint mustache and beard, and brown eyes. He was clothed, wearing a tan or gray shirt, jeans with patches on the knees and a black belt. No footwear was present. He was estimated to be tall and at a weight of at the time of his death and had O positive blood type (the most common). He was believed to have been seen alive in the nearby town of

at approximately 3:00 PM, a day prior to the discovery of his body. Distinctive features on the male were a white scar on his forehead, a vaccination scar on his left shoulder and another on his left wrist. On his right foot, he had

hammer toe A hammer toe or contracted toe is a deformity of the muscles and ligaments of the proximal interphalangeal joint of the second, third, fourth, or fifth toe causing it to be bent, resembling a hammer. In the early stage a flexible hammertoe is ...

deformities, which may have been due to wearing tight-fitting shoes or possibly other reasons. After the examination of his body was complete, the young man was buried in the Tooele City Cemetery, after the case remained unsolved. Stack's unidentified persons report was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Database in June 2010, where details of the case were released to the public in effort to identify him. This case was eventually reopened by law enforcement in 2014. The

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the Pres ...

was also contacted by the Tooele County police department and created a

forensic facial reconstruction Forensic facial reconstruction (or forensic facial approximation) is the process of recreating the face of an individual (whose identity is often not known) from their skeletal remains through an amalgamation of artistry, anthropology, osteol ...

of the subject by using mortuary photographs as an influence to create a likeness of his facial features. Subsequently, a poster was developed by the organization that was displayed to the public in hopes that he would be recognized by someone who may have known him in life. The cause of the victim's death was determined to have been two gunshot wounds to the head. This detail was not released to the public until a major break in the case developed.

Identification

In May 2015, authorities announced a break in the case. Stack's dental records were noted to be very similar to the John Doe's. Police promptly stated that they were "confident" that the body was that of David Stack. The victim was exhumed to obtain DNA evidence to confirm if he was Stack and DNA was also collected from his surviving relatives for comparison. Results of the DNA tests were initially expected to take as long as six to eight months. However, it was reported on August 11, 2015 that the DNA tests matched both the unidentified body and David Stack's relatives, less than three months after the match through dental records was made. His body was stored in a morgue after his exhumation and would eventually be transported to his family for reburial. Authorities stated that one explanation why the potential match took years was because "communication between departments in other states" was not as advanced as it is today. Another reason was because the victim carried no form of identification. Since he was identified, investigators hope that new details may emerge in the currently unsolved murder, as it is hoped subjects with knowledge about the circumstances of Stack's disappearance or murder will come forward with any information.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stack, David 1976 in Utah 1970s missing person cases 1976 murders in the United States Deaths by firearm in Utah Deaths by person in Utah Formerly missing people June 1976 events in the United States Male murder victims Missing person cases in Utah Unsolved murders in the United States Violence against men in North America People murdered in Utah

Disappearance

Discovery and examination

Identification

See also

References