CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
Cook County Sheriff's detectives, while seeking to identify victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, have discovered that a Peoria man who disappeared in 1978 apparently died on a mountainside in Utah — and was not a Gacy victim, as feared by family.
Daniel Noe, 21, who was hitchiking back to Illinois, doesn't appear to have been a victim of foul play, Sheriff Tom Dart announced Thursday.
The factory worker and surveyor was living in Bellingham, Wash., and called his dad on Sept. 30, 1978, to say he planned to return to Illinois to complete his studies at Northwestern University. He was never seen again, the Sun-Times is reporting.
Gacy killed at least 33 people in a spree from 1972 to 1978. He was executed in 1994.
People across the country have contacted Dart's office with names of missing relatives they believed could have been among the unidentified victims of Gacy.
Sheriff's detectives have obtained DNA samples from family members who contacted the office and a laboratory at the University of North Texas has been comparing the samples to DNA from Gacy's unidentified victims.
Noe's family contacted the sheriff's office with suspicions that he may have been one of Gacy's victims.
DNA from Noe's family didn't match the DNA of any of Gacy's unidentified victims discovered in Illinois.
But investigators found a DNA link between Noe's family members and human remains found by hikers on a mountain in Utah in 2010. The investigators determined that Noe — an avid hiker — wasn't a murder victim, Dart said.
A friend, Larry Wehking, told detectives that he dropped Noe on a highway to start hitchhiking. In 2010, hikers found Noe's remains on Mount Olympus, Utah, near I-80, which he apparently planned to follow back to Illinois on his trek home.
"While solving these cases is a bittersweet moment, the Cook County Sheriff's office is pleased to give families some sort of closure regarding their missing loved ones," Dart said.
Last year, detectives used DNA to confirm that William George Bundy was one of the unidentified bodies found on Gacy's property. Bundy was a 19-year-old North Sider and Senn High School drop-out who disappeared in 1976 while heading to a party.
Bundy was among 29 victims found in 1978 on Gacy's property at 8213 W. Summerdale in unincorporated Norwood Park Township. Four other Gacy victims were found in the Des Plaines River.
Dart's DNA initiative has resulted in some positive news for families: Several people feared dead have been found living in other parts of the country.
Daniel Noe (Cook County Sheriff's office)
