‘Snake River John Doe’ identified as Moscow teen found dead in the Snake River in 1982

NEZ PERCE COUNTY, Idaho — The Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office and Idaho State Police forensic services have identified a teen who was found dead in the Snake River 42 years ago.

The law enforcement agencies teamed up with Othram Inc., a Texas-based forensic genetic genealogy company to make a positive ID. The company specialized in analyzing DNA evidence that other methods can’t test, or that cannot be performed in other labs.

According to newspaper archives from the Spokesman Review, 17-year-old Dewayne Surls, of Moscow, Idaho, and his friend, Michael Coffin drove from Moscow to Boise on June 14, 1982. The 1976 Datson hit some rocks on a hillside near Riggins, and plunged into the Salmon River.

Coffin’s body was found 25 miles downriver from the crash site. Over two weeks after the crash, a fisherman found a body on a small island in the Snake River, about 100 miles away, south of Lewiston. At the time, no one pieced together that the body was part of the crash near Riggins.

An autopsy uncovered a bullet hole to the neck and another to the shoulder. Law enforcement at the time assumed it was a homicide, and had no way of identifying the body. He was dubbed ‘Snake River John Doe’ and buried in an unmarked grave at Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston. Coroners at the time could not determine if his cause of death was related to the gunshot wounds or drowning.

The Sheriff’s Office noted a two-inch scar on his right ankle, and calluses on both palms, suggesting he had worked manual labor jobs.

DNA from the case was shipped to Othram in 2023. Scientists there were able to extract DNA and use genome sequencing to build a genealogical profile for the body. That information was then compared to other DNA profiles, to find potential family members. This was how the body was identified as being Dewayne Surls, born in 1965.

Nez Perce County homicide detectives are now working to determine who shot Surls.

Othram said Surls is the sixth case in the State of Idaho that was positively identified using its specialized technology. The company has also successfully helped to identify bodies in Washington, Montana and other areas of the Inland Northwest and throughout the nation.