March 29, 2019
Police
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VA – Chesterfield Police have identified a man whose remains were discovered on Sunday, March 13, 2016, near the 1300 block of Bellwood Road.
On March 13, 2016, a man fishing in the area found a body along the bank of the James River and called police. Chesterfield County Fire and EMS personnel assisted with the recovery.
With the assistance of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, Chesterfield County Police worked to identify the man and determine his cause of death. After traditional investigative methods failed to identify the man, detectives sought the services of Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company in Reston, Virginia, that specializes in advanced DNA analysis techniques, including genetic genealogy.
Using biological material from the unknown man, DNA Labs International, a private forensics laboratory in Florida, supplied a suitable DNA sample for Parabon to use for genetic genealogy analysis. Parabon submitted a genetic data profile of the unidentified male to a public genetic genealogy database, called GEDmatch, for comparison in hopes of finding individuals who shared significant amounts of DNA with the man. Matches were found, and, through further genealogical research by Parabon and traditional police investigation by Chesterfield Police, investigators were able to identify the man as Hassan A. Alkebu-Lan, 39, of Richmond.
Though Alkebu-Lan's cause of death remains under investigation, there are no signs of foul play.