A bone found washed up on a California beach earlier this year has been identified as belonging to a fisherman who was lost at sea more than two decades ago, authorities say.
Using DNA testing, the man was identified as Jonathan Raxa, who vanished during a 1999 commercial fishing trip, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said in a Sept. 16 news release.
Tragedy strikes in 1999
On Dec. 14, 1999, 37-year-old Raxa was aboard a commercial fishing vessel alongside a captain and two other crew members, deputies said.
“A powerful 18-foot wave at the mouth of Humboldt Bay ripped the pilothouse clean off the Silver Spray just before dawn on Dec. 14,” the Los Angeles Times reported in 2000.
The boat’s skipper, Al Burns, watched as the wave swallowed his screw, then a second breaker
sank the boat, carrying him away, the newspaper reported.
“I had a good feeling I was going to die,” Burns told the Los Angeles Times.
He resurfaced about a hundred yards away and grabbed a nearby five-gallon oil can, the newspaper reported. The two other crew members managed to board a raft and pulled Burns to safety.
Raxa, however, disappeared and was never found.
The father of three “had been pushing hard for a big catch to finance an evangelical trip home to his native Laos,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
At some point in the investigation, investigators found Raxa’s son and got a DNA sample from him, which was submitted to the California Department of Justice and entered in the Combined DNA Index System. CODIS is a national database that cross-references DNA from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scenes, and missing or unidentified persons.
Bone found on beach in March
Deputies said they responded to a report of a possible human bone found on Centerville Beach in March 2026. After recovering the bone, investigators identified it as a human sacrum.
The bone was sent to the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office, which submitted it to the California Department of Justice for DNA testing.
Investigators extracted a DNA sample and entered it into CODIS, deputies said. A CODIS search found the DNA profile matched DNA from Raxa's family, leading to his identification.
“This case highlights the importance of collecting and preserving DNA samples from family members of missing persons,” deputies said. “These samples can provide critical investigative leads and assist law enforcement in identifying missing persons and resolving cases, even decades after a person’s disappearance.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Bone found on California beach ID'd as fisherman who vanished in 1999
