A son who was told his missing father had died more than 40 years ago exhumed the body, only to discover that the wrong person had been buried. Mark Wells, 52, has spent decades questioning what truly happened to his dad, Dale Wayne Wells, who vanished at age 38 in February 1985. Frustrated by the lack of answers from authorities, Mark paid to have his father's remains exhumed, hoping new DNA evidence might unravel the mystery.
However, Mark was left stunned when the results came back, revealing that the man he had buried and mourned as a child was not his father at all, but a complete stranger. He has condemned the inexcusable blunder, which he believes may have been a way for police to close a missing persons inquiry without carrying out basic checks. The body believed to be Dale's was discovered in Colfax, California, just a quarter of a mile from his then-wife's home, eight months after he was reported missing. According to his son, the body had been ransacked by animals.
A Lifetime of Questions
Mark was just 12 years old when his mother broke the news that his father had been killed in a hunting accident. As he grew up, he never pressed for answers about his father's death. At 18, Mark enlisted in the Marine Corps. Among the documents he was required to bring was his father's death certificate, which listed the cause of death as unknown. Mark said, 'I had always been told that my father was killed in a hunting accident. I told my mum how I saw his death certificate, and I saw that my father's death was unknown. She apologised and said she didn't want to tell me the truth about what happened.'
Mark later learned that his father had vanished eight months before being discovered dead by his grandfather in woodland just a quarter of a mile from his then-wife's home. He was told that three bullets were found near his father's body, leading many to believe he had taken his own life. But Mark refused to accept that theory, and police were never able to confirm the cause of death.
The Exhumation and DNA Revelation
In August 2019, frustrated at hitting a wall with the authorities, Mark paid for the exhumation himself. However, when the results came back in May 2022, he discovered that the man his family had buried was not his father at all. The firm compared DNA from the bone to DNA from Dale's sister, Sharon Service. In a letter addressed to Mark, Mitrotyping Technologies, which conducted the DNA analysis on the bones, stated that Dale can be excluded as the contributor to the biological material of the questioned bone sample.
Mark said, 'I was so mad when I got the news. It was emotional for me when my wife got home. I told her about the results and broke down. I was thinking, number one, that isn't my father in my ground, and number two, does that mean he is still alive?'
Police Response and Ongoing Mystery
So far, police have been unable to identify the man, and have now reopened his father's missing persons case. The Placer County Sheriff's Office has informed Mark that his father's missing persons case has been reopened, as his dad remains unaccounted for. Yet, years later, Mark is no closer to uncovering the truth about what happened to his father.
Mark said, 'It is frustrating for sure. All I want is answers, but I feel like nobody is truly willing to help me. I want to know if my dad is alive, and if not, what happened to him?' A spokesperson for Placer County Sheriff's Office said, 'The Placer County Coroner's Office positively identified the remains as those of Dale Wells through dental records. After the identification was confirmed, the remains were released to the next of kin.'
