MAYFIELD, Ky. (TCD) — A man whose body was found enveloped in chains and left in a lake has been positively identified 25 years later as someone who had been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
According to Kentucky State Police, on May 6, 1999, two fishermen at Lake Barkley discovered a man “wrapped in heavy tire chains and anchored with a hydraulic jack.” Othram Inc. said in a statement the male was between 25 and 45 years old, 5-foot-6 to 6-foot-1, and weighed about 225 pounds. He was wearing a shirt that had a logo for No Fear Sports Bar and a similar emblem on the back. The man also wore a Dallas Cowboys nylon jacket, a Reebok jacket, jeans, black belt, white socks, and sneakers.
Investigators could not immediately identify the man, so the case went cold.
In 2016, Kentucky State Police reopened the case by exhuming the body and attempted additional DNA tests in the hope of identifying him. However, he could still not be named, so he was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Person System.
Earlier this year, Kentucky State Police sent a DNA sample to Othram, who created a DNA profile of the man using forensic genetic genealogy. They found a relative through the DNA evidence and spoke with them. Eventually, investigators positively identified the man as Roger Dale Parham. Kentucky State Police said the information “led to multiple revelations.”
At the time of his disappearance, Parham was living in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and awaiting trial on “various criminal charges.” He went missing in March 1999, which Kentucky State Police said he did to avoid prosecution.
According to the FBI’s Most Wanted poster, Parham was arrested Nov. 21, 1998, for allegedly raping an underage girl. He was released on bond, but then he failed to appear in court. A judge revoked his bond and on June 3, 1999, issued a bench warrant for his arrest. He was charged in federal court in the Western District of Arkansas for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Kentucky State Police said Parham’s cause of death is undetermined, but it is being investigated as a homicide “due to the suspicious circumstances in which the remains were located.”
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