In the early summer of 1976, David Arthur Stack, an 18-year-old White/Caucasian male, embarked on an adventure. Having recently graduated from high school, the charismatic and travel-loving young man decided to hitchhike from his home in Broomfield, Colorado, to California to visit his siblings. His family saw him last on June 1, 1976, full of the free-spirited optimism that defined his generation. His journey, however, was tragically cut short, and he never reached his destination.
His siblings in California waited, but David never arrived, vanishing without a trace.
On June 10, 1976, the body of a young man was discovered in a landfill in rural Tooele County, Utah. The victim, who carried no identification, had been shot twice in the head. An autopsy confirmed the cause of death was homicide. Authorities estimated him to be between 17 and 22 years old, with shoulder-length dark brown hair and a faint mustache. He was wearing a tan shirt, patched jeans, and a black belt, but had no shoes. Despite their efforts, investigators could not identify the young man. He was buried in the Tooele City Cemetery as a "John Doe," his true name and story lost to time. For nearly four decades, the case grew cold, and David Stack was simply considered a missing person by his family who never gave up hope.
The mystery began to unravel in 2014 when the Tooele County Sheriff's Office reopened the cold case. Advances in forensic technology allowed them to revisit the evidence. In May 2015, a potential breakthrough came when the John Doe's dental records were matched with those of David Stack. To confirm the finding, the body was exhumed, and DNA samples were compared with those of David's surviving family members. In August 2015, it was conclusively confirmed that the unidentified man was David Arthur Stack.
The identification brought a painful answer to a question his family had carried for 39 years, but it did not close the book on his story. With his name finally restored, authorities renewed their investigation into his murder. They hope that by knowing who the victim was, someone might come forward with information about what happened to the young hitchhiker in those early days of June 1976. To this day, the circumstances surrounding David Arthur Stack's death remain unsolved. No suspects have ever been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made in connection with his murder.
