Body of mystery teen passenger exhumed to identify him 50 years after fatal crash

Southern California authorities have finally solved the 48-year-old cold case of a tragic teenager who died in a horrific car crash.

The mystery began on June 2, 1978, when a Volkswagen Beetle carrying five teenage passengers was traveling westbound on Arlington Avenue in Riverside suddenly lost control, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County Sheriff said.  

As the tragedy unfolded, the car crossed the center divider and struck a sport utility vehicle speeding down the road, said Lieutenant Deirdre Vickers. Four of the Beetle’s young passengers perished in the crash.  

The driver was the only survivor of the terrible wreck, and told investigators at the time that he had met one of the dead passengers only the day before and knew little about him. The three other victims were identified at the time, but their families knew nothing about the mystery teen.

Despite years of investigation, the victim remained unidentified until nearly 50 years after his death. On Wednesday, the Riverside Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau identified the teen killed in the fatal traffic accident as 18-year-old Mark Alan Smith.

Smith was identified as a native of Kansas, according to Lone Wolf News and Media. It remained unknown if Smith had relocated to Riverside or was merely visiting.

A photo of Smith circulated by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office shows a smiling young man with golden hair that barely covered his ears. Smith wore a white dress shirt in the undated photo.

Investigators working under Coroner Sergeant Nancy Rissi found their break in the case when they recently exhumed Smith’s body.

The investigators then used cutting-edge forensic genetic genealogy techniques to produce the leads needed to identify the victim, Vickers said.

Vickers said the coroner’s bureau was able to make the astonishing discovery of Smith’s identity thanks to help from the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Missing and Unidentified Human Remains grant program, which provided the resources needed for the exhumation.

A non-profit called GenGenies funded the forensic genetic genealogy work needed to produce the leads needed to identify the victim, she added.

“Together, these efforts have finally given Mark Smith’s family the closure they have long awaited,” Vickers said.

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