TOPEKA – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office have positively identified human remains that were found near Garnett in April 1973, providing answers to a family after 52 years.
On April 18, 1973, the decomposing remains of an unidentified male were located three miles southeast of Garnett, off 1550 Road. He was found wearing a brown corduroy jacket, a green long-sleeved buttoned shirt, jeans, a black leather belt with a large belt buckle, brown hiking boots and a navy blue stocking cap. He was also wearing two gold rings with crosses, a ring with the number “78” and a silver chain with a large cross.
During the autopsy in 1973, the coroner ruled the man’s manner of death a homicide due to signs of trauma. It was determined the man was around 20 years old and believed to have brown hair and a slender build. Over the years, many attempts were made to identify the remains and learn what happened to the man.
In 2024, DNA was extracted from the remains so that a DNA profile could be utilized for forensic genetic genealogy testing. This advanced testing, conducted by Othram, attempts to uncover family relationships in order to identify any living relatives of the person who is unidentified. The funding to conduct the testing was provided by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), administered by the National Institute of Justice, and managed through a contract with Research Triangle Institute International.
In early 2025, KBI learned the testing had identified relatives of the unknown man. After further investigation, KBI agents and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office located the man’s siblings. They conducted interviews and collected DNA from a sibling for comparison. The unidentified person was then positively identified as Jimmy Allen Dollison.
Jimmy Dollison had been living in Kansas City, Kansas, when he went missing. He disappeared sometime in October or November of 1972, when he was 16 years old. According to family members, he was reported missing by his parents, but the family never learned what happened to Jimmy.
The KBI and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office continue to investigate the circumstances of Dollison’s death.
Anyone who has information about the disappearance or murder of Dollison is asked to call the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME, or report tips online at https://www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.
