FILLMORE, Calif. (KEYT) – Skeletal remains discovered outside of Geneseo, Illinois in October of 1966 have been identified as missing 19-year-old Ronald Joseph Cole who vanished from Fillmore the year prior.
On Oct. 27, 1966, a postman found a human skull near a creek southeast of Geneseo in northwest Illinois stated a press release Wednesday from the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit founded in 2017 to identify John and Jane Does using investigative genealogy.
According to the DNA Doe Project, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spotted a bullet hole at the base of the recovered skull which was determined to be the cause of death for the man who had died between one and five years before the postman's discovery.
A search of the area resulted in the discovery of more skeletal remains and it was verified that the John Doe was a man between the ages of 16 and 30 shared the DNA Doe Project.
The case remained unsolved until the Henry County Sheriff's Office brought the DNA Doe Project into their investigation in 2024.
The nonprofit generated a DNA profile of the unidentified man and uploaded those results to GEDmatch, a genetic genealogy research database, and a number of DNA matches in the second and third cousin range were connected to the deceased.
"We are very grateful for the relatives who chose to upload their DNA results to GEDmatch," explained Gwen Knapp who led the DNA Doe Project team investigation. "Unusually, our team had good matches on both the father’s side and the mother’s side to work with."
Ronald Joseph ColeIn May of 2025, members of the Sheriff's Cold Case Unit began to work alongside investigators with the Henry County Sheriff's Office and on Jan. 10, 2026, the DNA Doe Project confirmed that the remains discovered in 1966 were Ronald Cole detailed the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
According to the Ventura County Sheriff's office, Cole has been missing since May of 1965 and his disappearance was first reported to the Fillmore Police Department in late October 1983.
His last known location was at a family home in the 400 block of Foothill Drive and family members believed that Cole's half-brother, David La Fever, was responsible for his disappearance shared the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
A missing person investigation was started in August of 1984 and David La Fever was named the prime suspect, but investigators were unable to find any physical evidence of a crime and the case has remained open through the years noted the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
In 1983, La Fever and his wife Margaret were arrested and convicted on unrelated charges of child pornography and child abuse in Arizona.
The following year, the body of Margaret's brother, Jon Brian Skaggs, -who had been missing since 1977- was discovered near the La Fever's former home in Galt, California with a gunshot wound.
David nor Margaret were ever charged in either case.
David La Fever died on Aug. 12, 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska added the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
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