May 13, 2024 - Madison, WI
Thanks to advancing technology investigators were able to use DNA from hair samples to identify the man know to many as Chimney Doe.
Traditionally, forensic analysis of hair has focused on getting genetic material from cells attached to the hair’s root. But, in the
case of Chimney Doe, investigators had rootless hair, which can make it difficult to extract enough genetic material.
In 2019, Madison Detective Lindsey Ludden reached out to the DNA Doe Project, hoping a new method could provide more information about Chimney Doe’s remains.
Eventually, scientists at the California-based Astrea Forensics laboratory were able to get enough DNA from Kirk’s rootless hairs, a process that took over two years.
Police disclosed that Kirk was married and divorced twice, and he fathered children.
“People are going to speculate about the so-called dress, and we feel that it was mislabeled as such since we have found no further evidence to suggest Ronnie ever
identified as anything other than male,” said Megan Pasika, co-team leader for the DNA Doe Project.
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Ronnie Joe Kirk (DOB: 1942)
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Novelist John Peyton Cooke put this "skeleton story" and another Madison incident "
drifter-murderer story" together and
fashioned a novel, "The Chimney Sweeper," (Mysterious Press, 1995) that takes place in a city called "Isthmus City." The lakes in this fictional city have Indian nam
