WELLSTON, Mo. – In September 2021, an anonymous tip came into police about human remains in an abandoned home on Page Avenue in Wellston.
“It was three years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday,” North County Police Cooperative Major Ron Martin said. “There were so many obstacles in that investigation from us being able to get into the structure because it was very unsafe.”
The home had to be demolished right after the recovery. One person was quickly identified, but a second person’s identity remained a mystery.
“There was no foul play, but we still proceeded on with the death investigation,” he said. “We teamed up with the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office.”
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Lindsay Trammell said their last resort was to use a bone sample to acquire a DNA profile.
“However, none of the involved agencies had funding to do that and there’s not a lab in Missouri that does DNA,” she said. “So, we had to get waitlisted to send something off for DNA analysis.”
It was a three-year wait to get results through the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). Future testing soon could take only months because of new Missouri State Highway Patrol funding for cold case lab testing.
We now know a family in Oxford, New York, was searching for the man now identified: 34-year-old Sebastian John Catanzaro. His family was here five months before his unidentified body was found, walking the streets and handing out flyers.
We talked to his family via Zoom. His sister, Angela Catanzaro, got the call from police.
“It was the hardest thing to tell my mom and my sister,” she said.
They remember their brother’s enthusiasm for Christmas and how drugs robbed him of his joy. They said he ended up in St. Louis, where he was homeless.
Catanzaro’s mother, Michelle Jorgenson, broke down when discussing “…not knowing if your kid is hungry or cold.”
His sister, Angela, now works with foster children. His sister Amber Pinkham was called to help others fight addiction.
“I really have a passion for people being more educated on what addiction is so there’s not so much stigma attached to it,” she said.
They’re thankful authorities did not give up on their brother’s case.
“They could have been like, ‘Oh, they’re just homeless people, it really doesn’t matter. They’re homeless.’ But to find that we got that to know where he was, and we could bring him home, is huge,” Michelle said.
