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Human remains found 32 years ago identified as Norfolk teenager

32 years ago, a skull was found lying under a fence in Stafford County. Thanks to DNA evidence, the remains were identified as Timothy Mangum, a Norfolk teen.

NORFOLK, Va. — Human remains found 32 years ago in Stafford County have now been identified as a Norfolk teenager.

The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating exactly how he died and they need your help.

On Sept. 28, 1990, a man was bush hogging his field when he found a human skull lying under the fence line. The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said deputies searched the area but found no other remains.

They believed the skull had been there for one to three years and showed no signs of trauma.

Multiple agencies who studied the skull believed it belonged to a white teenager between 15 and 18 years old.

Investigators said Virginia's Office of Chief Medical Examiner strongly suspected the death to be violent or unnatural because of the victim’s age and where the skull was found.

More than 20 years later, in 2011, DNA tests were run on the skull by DNA International and the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. The DNA profile was then uploaded to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), however, the results turned up nothing. 

Fast forward to May 7, 2020, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children joined the investigation. Investigators asked OCME if the DNA taken from the skull could be sequenced and then searched against genealogy databases to try to find any potential family members of the still-unidentified victim.

They found a match.

Detectives tracked down the victim's father and brother in Norfolk and used their DNA to confirm the skull belonged to Timothy Alan Mangum.

Mangum was enrolled in the Chesapeake Public School System, then enrolled in Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk in 1983.

At one point, he lived with his mother in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before returning to Norfolk. He was placed at the James Barry Robinson Institute, a residential treatment program.

Kenny Miller had a 41 year career in law enforcement. He said the advancement of DNA technology over the years is like flipping on a light switch on cold cases like this one.

"When I started my career, we were using revolvers as our weapons of protection," he said. "This DNA technology is like the epiphany. The awakening," Miller said.

However, he said the technology doesn’t work on its own.

"While DNA is truly a big asset to law enforcement in matching, it still takes the effort of the investigator," Miller said.

Investigators still don’t know exactly how Timothy Mangum died. They believe he was last alive in 1983 or 1984 and from there, they need your help.

If you had any contact with Mangum or know why he might have been in Stafford County around Sept. of 1990, they want to hear from you.

Anyone who may have known Mangum or attended school with him is asked to contact Detective Dave Wood, at the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office at (540) 658-4727 or email at dwood@staffordcountyva.gov.

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