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(Iowa) -- Cold case investigators in northern California believe a Des Moines man may have been the victim of a decades-old unsolved homicide.
Investigators say after extensive genetic testing, the body of a man found burned alive 1972 may be that of Grover Benjamin Hughes of Des Moines. Hughes was born in July of 1894 and was known to have spent time in the San Francisco Bay Area prior to the 1960s. Investigators say the body was found wearing a hospital gown and near the site of a tuberculosis treatment center that closed in 1972. The body was found with a few personal items consistent with a hospital stay, but none that confirmed the victim's identity.
Investigators says the body was emaciated, and the victim was likely bedridden at the time of his death. The victim was roughly 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed about 135 pounds and had light-colored hair and blue eyes. The site where the body was found is near what was once the Weimar Joint Sanitorium, a facility for tuberculosis patients who were unable to afford treatment. Investigators were not able to find any record of Hughes having been a patient there.
The Placer County, California Sheriff's Office is asking the public for any information about Hughes, including photos or any other information about his disappearance. Anyone with information can call the Sheriff's Office at (530)889-7853 or submit a tip via email at PCSOTipline@placer.ca.gov.