SAGINAW COUNTY (WWJ) -- On Sept. 9, 2018, human bones were discovered in Chapin Township -- a rural area in southwest Saginaw County.
Following a three-year investigation that included two rounds of DNA testing, the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday that the remains had been identified as Xin Rong, a 27-year-old University of Michigan doctoral student who went missing in 2017.
Rong was also a certified private pilot, and his rental plane, a Cessna 172, had been found crashed in Ontario, Canada in 2017 after departing from Ann Arbor, according to MLive.
It was later determined that the plane, which was reportedly heading for Harbor Springs, had likely run out of fuel. Though Rong’s body was not found among the wreckage, it was presumed he had jumped from the plane, and he was declared legally deceased in Oct. 2017.
The connection was made between the missing U-M student and the remains found in Saginaw County after a forensic lab in Texas took a second look at the bones.
Originally, a lab at Michigan State University generated a DNA profile from the remains, and determined the person was of white or Hispanic descent.
However, a different set of test results from the Houston-based Othram Inc. recently suggested the person may have been an Eastern Asian or Inuit man.
The Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office then searched for open cases in Michigan involving a missing Asian man during that time frame, and Rong became a person of interest.
After speaking with the University of Michigan police and obtaining Rong’s dental records, it was determined that the remains were his.
Rong’s family in San Francisco was notified, and the case has now been closed.
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