For more than thirty years, he was a nameless man, a John Doe whose remains were found discarded in a wooded area miles from where he had last been seen alive. It was not until December 2023 that advanced DNA technology finally returned his name: Derek Michael Mason. Known to friends and neighbors in his West Philadelphia community as "Hawkeye" or "Hawk," Derek was a man whose violent death left a void of unanswered questions for decades.
The last time anyone is known to have seen Derek was in October 1991, when he left his home on the 500 block of South 39th Street. Where he was going and who he was with remains a mystery. Three months later, on January 21, 1992, a grim discovery was made in a different part of the state. Human remains were found dumped in a wooded area alongside the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Clay Township, a rural community in Lancaster County.
The location was a significant distance from Derek's Philadelphia neighborhood, suggesting he had been taken there.
Investigators from the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) responded to the scene. An autopsy determined the man had been the victim of a homicide, killed by a gunshot. The victim was estimated to be between 18 and 30 years old and stood about 5’10” tall. He was wearing a light blue, long-sleeved Kate Collins brand sweater and size 35-36 Fruit-of-the-Loom underwear. A notable physical characteristic was a healed scar on his chest, the remnant of a previous bullet wound. Despite these details, investigators were unable to identify the man, and with no viable leads, the case went cold. For years, he was known only as the Lancaster County John Doe.
The case remained dormant for decades. In April 2017, the man's profile was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), but still, no matches were found. The breakthrough finally came in 2022 when the Pennsylvania State Police partnered with Othram Labs, a private laboratory in Texas specializing in forensic genetic genealogy. Investigators submitted forensic evidence from the remains for advanced DNA testing. Othram's scientists successfully built a comprehensive DNA profile from the degraded evidence.
A PSP analyst then used this new, detailed profile to conduct genealogical research, which pointed toward potential family members of the unknown victim. Investigators followed these leads, interviewing possible relatives and collecting additional DNA samples for comparison. In December 2023, the painstaking work paid off. The remains found along the turnpike were positively identified as Derek Michael Mason, thirty-two years after he had vanished.
The identification gave a name back to the victim but opened a new chapter in the investigation into his murder. As of July 2024, the homicide case is active and unsolved. The Pennsylvania State Police, Troop J, Lancaster Station, and the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office are now re-examining the circumstances of Derek's disappearance and death, hoping that with his identity known, new leads will emerge. They are urging anyone who knew Derek Mason as "Hawkeye" or "Hawk" in West Philadelphia in the early 1990s to come forward.
Investigators believe someone holds the key to what happened to Derek between his disappearance in October 1991 and the discovery of his body in January 1992. The Pennsylvania State Police is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the case. Anyone with information regarding the homicide of Derek Michael Mason is asked to contact Trooper Brian McNally of the PSP Lancaster station at 717-290-1967.
