DARK HISTORY

Skeleton Found on California Mountainside IDed as Japanese Internee From Days of WWII

Officials confirmed through DNA testing that the remains found in October were of Giichi Matsumura, an artist in the Japanese internment camp.

A skeleton found by hikers on a California mountain in October was reportedly identified Friday as Giichi Matsumura, a Japanese American artist who was an internee at the Manzanar internment camp during World War II. The Inyo County sheriff used DNA to identify Matsumura, who died on the state's second highest peak in August 1945 during a freak snow storm while on a hiking trip with fellow camp members, the Associated Press reports. The 46-year-old had split up from the group to paint a watercolor while the rest went towards the lake to fish. After the snowstorm hit, the other hikers and subsequent search parties from the camp failed to find him. A month later, a group of hikers from a nearby town found his remains. Internment camp members left Matsumura's body on the mountain, burying it under rocks.

When the two hikers found the remains on Mount Williamson in October, authorities were alerted after they posted about it online. The sheriff's office said they had no records about a missing individual in that area that fit the description, but had a hunch it might be Matsumura. DNA provided by Matsumura's granddaughter confirmed the suspicion.