Riverside Vernon John Doe 1978 is Mark Alan Smith

Young person with blond hair wearing a white shirt.

Mark Alan Smith, 18

In partnership with GenGenies, the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner’s Bureau has confirmed Mark Alan Smith was the young victim involved in a fatal car accident in Riverside, California, back in 1978.

Smith was hitchhiking when four teenagers offered him a ride. Unfortunately, the crash claimed all five lives. Mark, who had a fake ID, remained unidentified for 48 years.

In August 2025, with the assistance of the U.S. DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) grant program, Riverside Coroner Sergeant Nancy Rissi organized efforts to exhume the unidentified remains for DNA extraction. The California Department of Justice then successfully created an STR profile and submitted it to CODIS with no hits.

Next, and thanks to the generosity of many GenGenies donors, a viable SNP profile necessary for investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) was generated by Resolve Forensics; bioinformatics provided by Parabon Nanolabs. In April 2026, the profile was uploaded to GEDmatch PRO for match analysis.

Finally, GenGenies could embark on their branch of the investigation: IGG services. After 48 years and ten months of rigorous protocols and testing, a small team of Genies provided a lead within 24 hours. This truly highlights the power of IGG.

Critical insights were found in an extensive Family History Book authored by Thelma E. Kurtz. Her valuable work strengthened the lead by connecting the Midwestern teen found on no public records to his family’s stint in California. Mark, as we know now, was making his way across the country to visit his grandma when he took his last ride that fateful spring day in June.

Kurtz “contemplated on the many memories left forgotten and the many dreams left unspoken.” Britta Brewer, GenGenies’ Executive Director, asserts “the foreshadowing is palatable as Mark’s young life was cut short just three days after his 18th birthday.”

In addition to the above partners, GenGenies extends thanks to Riverside County DA Investigator Bob Taft, CA DOJ Assistant Lab Director Michelle Halsing, and IGG DNA segment analyst Brian Bailey for providing their expertise to the case. The excellence and collaboration of everyone involved is notable.

Credit must also be given to the plentiful followers of his case in online public forums. They tirelessly kept his case alive and for decades have been relentless in their efforts to identify him. GenGenies listened to their calls for IGG, Riverside never forgot him, and with both public and private funding, he is finally on his way to be with his family again. Together, we truly are stronger.

Founded in June 2024, GenGenies was established, in part, to unite such community support with investigative need; empowering private donors to financially drive public agencies’ ability to revisit and solve long-standing unidentified human remains cases with IGG. Mark is one of four donor-funded identifications confirmed this year for the non-profit. Four more leads are pending DNA confirmation.

Brewer attests, “the Genies could not do what we do without our selfless donors. Each case costs at minimum now about $5,000 before it gets to our desks.” GenGenies invites everyone to join the mission. Large or small, collectively, every donation makes a difference as evidenced by Mark’s life, death, identification, and the sincere gratitude expressed by his siblings.

To Mark’s family, we offer our heartfelt condolences. “Each little raindrop is necessary for the normal growth of a tree. So it is with a family tree—every member is a vital and necessary being.” Having passed away at the age of 94 in 2024, Kurtz will never realize the profound relevance her words will eternally hold over her relative’s existence: A young man known as the unknown for so long, but no longer.

Welcome home, Mark...

The Genies and thousands of others welcome you home.

Other Media Links:

Riverside Sheriff-Coroner - Official Press Release

CBS LA - John Doe identified nearly 50 years after dying in Riverside County crash

KTLA 5 - Teen killed in Southern California crash in 1978 finally identified

NBC Palm Springs - Riverside County Sheriff's Department Identifies 1978 John Doe After Nearly Five Decades

INDEPENDENT UK - Mystery solved as John Doe in 1978 crash that killed four teens is finally identified 50 years later

Public Interest Social Media Threads Keeping His Case Alive:

Facebook Group - John Does and Missing 1960s-80s

Facebook Group - Lone Wolf News and Media

Facebook Group - Who Am I?