More than a quarter century after a dismembered, decomposing body was found in an Alabama forest, police said Wednesday they now know the identity of the dead man.

The case started on April 15, 1997 when a dead body was found in a wooded area along Little Cotaco Creek just off of Eagle Rock Road in Union Grove.

Investigators at the time said the body was identified as that of a white male; however, due to the removal of the head, hands, and feet, it was impossible to give an accurate age or description.

The autopsy results found that the manner of death was a homicide, and that the removal of the body parts was done intentionally; most likely to make identification impossible.

Investigators from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation worked tirelessly to identify the individual and followed up on numerous leads; but were still unsuccessful in making a positive identification.

Throughout the years leads stopped coming in, and eventually the case went cold.

After 26 years, the deceased individual has now been identified as Jefferey Douglas Kimzy, 20, of Santa Barbara, California.

In November of 2019; Sheriff Sims and then Chief Investigator Keith Wilson made contact with Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA Technology company. Through a process called DNA Phenotyping, Parabon could give us some possible physical characteristics for what the dead man may have looked like.

Investigators said they now also have persons of interest identified as suspected of being involved in the case and are actively pursuing those leads.

If anyone has any information about this case from that time period, please call the sheriff’s office at 256-582-2034.