MOHAVE COUNTY, Ariz. (KTNV) — A man found dead in Mohave County nearly 50 years ago has now been identified.
Sheriff's officials say the victim was identified as Luis Alonso Paredes, who was originally from El Salvador.
Hikers found the man's body in a high desert area about 6 miles east of Katherine's Landing on Nov. 23, 1976, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office stated in a press release.
Investigators determined he'd been shot in the head at close range. Fingerprints were obtained during an autopsy, but detectives weren't able to identify the victim.
But deputies investigating the killing back then didn't have access to a national database of fingerprints.
During a review of the case that began in October, investigators with the office's Special Investigations Unit compared digital images of the victim's fingerprints with all available national fingerprint records. That search would return the first break in the case in decades when investigators learned the victim's identity for the first time.
Detectives also learned Paredes "may have been living or working in the Las Vegas area at the time of his death," a sheriff's office spokesperson wrote.
He may also have been employed with the U.S. Coast Guard or Navy in the San Francisco Bay area nearly a decade before he was killed, the spokesperson wrote.
While they now know who the man was, investigators have not been able to locate any of Paredes' relatives, officials said.
They're asking anyone with information about the case, or who could help investigators find Paredes' family, to contact the Mohave County Sheriff's Office Detective Division at 928-753-0753 ext. 4288. You can reference case no. 76-5053.
