Human remains — found 20 years ago in AL — identified as runaway inmate, officials say
A body that was discovered in Alabama nearly 20 years ago was identified as an escaped inmate who had been using a fake name, officials said.
The body was originally discovered by hunters in October 2005 in woods near Garden City, Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey said in a Feb. 11 news release shared with McClatchy News.
A gun and a woman’s driver’s license were found along with the body, according to the release.
Then, detectives located and interviewed the woman to whom the license was issued, and she told them her partner had taken her identification and disappeared the year before, officials said.
But an investigation revealed that the name was fake — it belonged to a man who died in 1995, officials said. The case went cold in 2005 after forensic efforts to identify the body failed.
In 2024, the case was reopened when officials learned the man who vanished had two daughters living in the area, officials said.
Genetic genealogy testing using DNA evidence from one of the daughters revealed the man had a possible biological son, officials said.
The body was then identified as Patrick Spann using DNA from an extracted tooth and his biological son, officials said. The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences confirmed the findings.
“Spann’s remains have been released to his family in Mississippi for proper burial,” Casey said in the release. “But, this does not conclude the investigation into his death. State and local law enforcement will continue to pursue and follow leads until all remaining questions surrounding his death have been resolved.”
Spann was a runaway inmate from a jail in Mississippi, officials said. He assumed an alias after leaving the detention facility in 1998.
That year, the Clarion-Ledger reported that two inmates — including Spann, who was serving two years on a drug possession charge — didn’t return after leaving with a volunteer for a work assignment.
“They were doing good work, especially Patrick Spann, who has been with us two to three months,” Luther Ott, director of Stewport Community Services at the time, told the outlet. “He had earned our trust. We are just disappointed it happened.”
Officials did not say if the other inmate or volunteer were ever found.
The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences has over 100 remains in its custody, Casey said, adding that she is now working to resolve three other cold cases.
Garden City is about a 40-mile drive north from Birmingham.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Human remains — found 20 years ago in AL — identified as runaway inmate, officials say."
