NEW CASTLE, Ind. — For nearly 20 years, a headstone in a Knightstown cemetery has read, “Here lies a man only God knows." But finally, that phrase will be replaced with the name "Daniel Diaz," a Columbus man whose body was found behind an abandoned gas station in Indiana decades ago.
"It was ruled a homicide, the cause of death is a gunshot wound to the head,” Henry County Coroner Stacey Guffey said.
Guffey made it his mission to identify who this man was. He said when the body was found, there was no identification.
Fingerprints, along with DNA samples and dental records, were sent to different agencies, but no matches were found.
"In his possession was a receipt from a Walmart store in Reynoldsburg, Ohio that was from like the day or two prior from him being found,” Guffey said.
It wasn’t until February 2022 that a break in the case came from an email from the FBI.
Fingerprints from a previous arrest were used to compare to the prints that the county had sent. John Doe was finally identified as Daniel Diaz, who, at the time of his death, was 26 years old and lived in Columbus.
Guffey said the most shocking part of the investigation was that Diaz’s family had no clue.
"They were distraught. They were upset and [had] a lot of emotions, but they had thought this whole time that their son didn't want a relationship with them, didn't want anything to do with them,” Guffey said.
Guffey told 10TV that the family has searched for their loved one over the years but has never been successful.
He said now that Diaz has been identified, that's one piece of the investigation that's solved. Guffey said the family is planning to travel to Indiana to go to the cemetery.
Guffey said they’re still in the process of contacting other family members of Diaz.
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