Lincoln County Rail Car John Doe 1961 (NE)
Kit #3711
DNA Doe Project Case Summary
On October 31, 1961, an unidentified man was found inside a train car in North Platte, Nebraska under 2500 pounds of ice. The train originated from Roseville, California earlier that month. No identification was found on this man and he was buried in Lincoln County, Nebraska.
Update:
Houston, TX – After 63 years, researchers with the DNA Doe Project are making progress in the investigation into the identity of a man who was found dead in a rail car in North Platte, Nebraska in 1961.
Lincoln County Rail Car John Doe was found under 2500 pounds of ice in a rail car that originated in Roseville, California. The man had no identification and was unknown to the locals. He is still unidentified after 63 years. Volunteer investigative genetic genealogists with the non-profit DNA Doe Project have discovered that John Doe had recent ancestors from St. Landry Parish in Louisiana, while he himself may have been from Texas.
“Although we now know that the Doe has ancestors from Louisiana, it seems that multiple branches of his family moved to parts of Texas such as Houston and Beaumont,” said team leader Jennifer Randolph. “It’s possible that he grew up in Texas, and he may still have living family in Houston and/or Beaumont.”
The DNA Doe Project’s research has not revealed any genealogical link to Nebraska, but a clue found with John Doe’s remains points to his having lived in California prior to his death – a packet of cigarettes labeled with a California tax stamp.
According to Janel Daniels, one of the researchers on this case, “During the second wave of the Great Migration from the South, starting around the 1940s, many African Americans leaving Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas moved to California. If there’s someone in your family who left around that time and was never heard from again, he could be this John Doe.”
The DNA Doe Project has also commissioned a facial reconstruction of Lincoln County Rail Car John Doe by renowned forensic artist Carl Koppelman. This depicts how John Doe might have looked if he was around 60 years old at the time of his death, which was the estimate given when he was found in 1961. However, age estimates during this period weren’t always accurate, and it’s believed that he could have been much younger.
“We need the public’s help to identify this man,” said Randolph. “If you recognize him, or if your family has connections to St. Landry Parish or the Houston/Beaumont areas, we want to hear from you.”
The public can also help by contributing their DNA profiles to the three databases that can be used by DNA Doe Project researchers – GEDmatch.com, FamilyTreeDNA.com, and DNAJustice.org.
“If you have taken a direct-to-consumer DNA test at sites like Ancestry or 23andMe, you can download your profile and upload to the databases we use,” said Daniels. “You could be the match that helps us resolve this case, even if you never knew our John Doe.”
The public can contact DNA Doe Project researchers at case-tips@dnadoeproject.org.
Last Updated: February 1, 2026
