DNA Doe Project identifies man found dead in Virginia in 1979
Remains found in the James River identified as Nick Lopsis
Charles City County, VA – Nearly five decades after his body was found on the banks of the James River, John Charles City Doe has been identified as 27-year-old Nick S. Lopsis. Though he was a native of Prince William County, Lopsis was living in Richmond at the time of his disappearance. He was last seen leaving his residence to go to a workshop, after which he was never heard from again.
Nick Lopsis
On August 28, 1979, partial skeletal remains were found along the bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. Authorities estimated that this unidentified man was 17-23 years old, between 5’3” and 5’9” tall, and possibly Hispanic. He wore a white shirt with blue stripes, khaki colored pants, and a brown belt 32″ in length.
The Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later brought this case to the DNA Doe Project, whose expert volunteer investigative genetic genealogists work pro bono to identify John and Jane Does. At the outset of the genealogy research on this case, it was clear that the unidentified man was Caucasian and had deep roots in West Virginia, but it also appeared that he had a recent ancestor from Southern Europe.
“We thought that our John Doe’s father might have been an immigrant from Southern Europe,” said team co-leader Julie Bracker. “This population is underrepresented in the DNA databases we have access to, which resulted in a smaller number of DNA matches for us to work with.”
In spite of this challenge, the team made swift progress, identifying a family in West Virginia that the unidentified man had ties to. After just three days of research, they found that a descendant of this family had moved from West Virginia to the Washington, D.C. area, where she met and married a man who was originally from Greece. The team then discovered that this couple had a son called Nick, born in 1952 – but he seemed to have vanished from the records.
The team presented this lead to the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, at which point investigators reached out to Nick’s sister. She informed them that she hadn’t heard from her brother since 1979, when he vanished from the Richmond group home where he’d been living. Rapid DNA testing later confirmed that Nick Lopsis was indeed John Charles City Doe.
“It’s an honor to have been entrusted with this vital work by the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and NCMEC,” said team leader Traci Onders. “We hope that the recent resolution of cases like this will encourage more agencies to use investigative genetic genealogy and find answers in cold cases that would otherwise have remained unsolved.”
The DNA Doe Project is grateful to the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, who entrusted the case to us; the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, for funding the lab work, bioinformatics, and database upload costs; Bode Technology for the lab work and bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA for providing their databases; our generous donors who joined our mission and contributed to this case; and the DNA Doe Project’s dedicated teams of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our John and Jane Does home.
Description:
Partial skeletal remains were found along the bank of the James River in Charles City County Virginia on August 28, 1979. Authorities estimate this John Doe was 17-23 years old, between 5’3” and 5’9” tall, and could be Hispanic. He wore a white shirt with blue stripes, khaki colored pants, and a brown belt 32″ in length. The lab work for this case has been funded by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. DDP always provides investigative genetic genealogy pro bono.
NamUs ID:
UP9398
Date Body Found:
August 28, 1979
Race:
White/Caucasian, Hispanic
Sex:
Male
Estimated Age:
17-23
Estimated PMI:
6 months
Agency of Jurisdiction:
Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Lara Newell
804-786-6041
lara.newell@vdh.virginia.gov
More Information:
https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Charles_City_John_Doe
https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMU/2016800/1
Status:
Identified
Image Credit:
NCMEC
Last Updated: December 18, 2025
