Virginia State Police try to identify John Doe, murdered in 1987

ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - It’s a case that has baffled investigators.

In 1987, a man was murdered in Rockbridge County and the suspect was convicted.

The problem?

Virginia State Police have no idea who the dead man is, and they need your help to identify him.

“We solved a homicide, but don’t know who the victim is,” said Douglas Hubert, Virginia State Police Special Senior Agent.

According Hubert, on May 27, 1987, highway workers discovered a body along the southbound shoulder of Interstate 81 at mile marker 183 in Rockbridge County.

A story WDBJ7 covered at the time.

“It was May. It was warm outside. The body had decomposed significantly, so it was not obvious to them what the cause of death was. The autopsy revealed John Doe had been shot and died from gunshot wounds,” said Hubert.

With the body, there were some items including a 10-dollar bill with the man’s blood on it, his prescription glasses, a knife and a black notebook with handwritten notes.

Those handwritten notes would lead investigators straight to the man’s killer.

Police say those notes referred to a truck and trailer number for the J.B. Hunt Trucking Company.

When investigators checked out the information, it revealed John Swartz was driving a tractor-trailer through Virginia.

“According to Mr. Swartz, which this is only his story, he had picked up the unknown person somewhere in Wytheville at the truck stop and that they’d been together for several days. They pull over on the side of the interstate and a fight occurs and that John Doe was trying to steal stuff from him and held him at knifepoint and then he shot him because he was trying to steal something from him and got in his truck and drove away,” said Hubert.

Swartz confessed to the murder, and he was eventually convicted. It was victory for investigators in 1988.

Here’s what one investigator told WDBJ7 in 1988 when the case went to court.

“This guy’s life meant nothing to him, and he was just a nobody.”

Time and time again they tried to get him to give them John Doe’s real name, but Swartz eventually died in prison.

Hubert says in 1987 during the autopsy, they did try to identify John Doe.

“They made clay models off of the skull of what they presumed he looked like. Had a pair of glasses. They would take those glasses and send them off and have them determine what the prescription was in it to see if there was maybe some way they could search them,” said Hubert.

They tried to match his fingerprints, but...

“There is no databanks for any of those things to be searched. In 1987 there wasn’t, and there’s not even today. Fingerprints can be searched, but... you’re searching for people that have been arrested or convicted of a crime,” said Hubert.

Hubert said as the years passed, his remains were cremated and his items were destroyed.

In recent years there has been a renewed push to identify John Doe.

“I reached out to the original investigator of it. He’s retired from the state police now. He was very happy that I called him about it. He said, this was one that bothered him. It bothered him. Like, how do I, how did I convict somebody of a homicide? And I don’t know who it is. He pointed out knowing what technology is and everything - Like, why did we get rid of that $10 bill? Why did we do that? Because obviously we know today, we could have done all those types of things,” said Hubert.

So now investigators need your help.

Police describe John Doe as a white man between the ages of 20 and 40 years old. He is about 5-foot-4 and about 150 pounds.

His glasses are for a near-sighted person and are similar to the type issued by the Veterans Administration to vets.

He was wearing a U.S. Army shirt with a specialist E4 rank insignia on the sleeve, blue jeans with a unique belt buckle and a chain with a cross.

If you have any information about who John Doe is, you can contact Virginia State Police.

If you would like to learn more about the case, click here.

Click here for other Unsolved Virginia segments.