2026年7月29日 / 美国东部时间下午1:30 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
调查人员已确认1972年在俄勒冈州西南部树林中发现的一具谋杀受害者遗骸的身份。
据库斯县警长办公室消息，来自俄勒冈州阿斯托利亚的阿姆斯·亨利·拉赫蒂是一名曾在二战期间服役的美国海军老兵。库斯县包含发现拉赫蒂骸骨的林区，当时一名青少年在附近树上剥臭椿树皮时发现了这些遗骸。
当时，当局能够确认拉赫蒂是头部中两枪身亡，并将其死亡归类为他杀。但除了衣物和一组刻有部分模糊不清数字的假牙板外，现场没有找到足够证据来推动案件调查。
警长办公室估计，拉赫蒂在遗骸被发现前近十年就已遇害。而确认他的身份又花费了超过50年的时间。
阿姆斯·亨利·拉赫蒂，一名曾服役于二战的美国海军老兵。库斯县警长办公室/奥瑟拉姆公司
2025年，当局开始重新审查这起早已成为悬案的细节。俄勒冈州州法医办公室将证据提交给一家专门从事调查性遗传家谱学的实验室，这种破案方法结合了DNA分析和“家族树”研究，用于确认身份不明的犯罪受害者。尽管成本高昂，但这项技术正越来越多地被用于侦破长期未破的谋杀或失踪人员案件。
科学家们能够从最初调查期间收集的证据中提取到足够的DNA。据执行检测的实验室称，最终他们的分析结果将执法人员引向了拉赫蒂的亲属。
拉赫蒂生于1909年，家属称他是一名狂热的渔民，身材高大却性格温和，还被讽刺性地起了个“小老鼠”的绰号。警长办公室表示，亲属们回忆他“热爱大海，为自己为国服役感到自豪”。
尽管遗骸身份现已确认，但当局仍未查清他的死亡经过或可能的凶手。警长办公室称，调查人员了解到拉赫蒂在失踪前不久曾“在一家酒吧发生争执”，随后“带着一把步枪离开”。据该办公室透露，这场争执很可能发生在1965年。
“尽管这起案件距今已有60年之久，我们仍希望为阿姆斯和他的家人伸张正义，”该办公室表示。他们呼吁任何拥有相关信息的人，“无论看起来多么微不足道”，都与他们取得联系。
Murder victim found in Oregon woods in 1972 identified as WWII veteran
July 29, 2026 / 1:30 PM EDT / CBS News
Investigators have identified the remains of a murder victim whose bones were discovered in the woods of southwestern Oregon in 1972.
Armes Henry Lahti, of Astoria, Oregon, was a United States Navy veteran who served in the military during World War II, according to the Coos County Sheriff’s Office. Coos County includes the wooded area where Lahti’s skeletal remains were found by a teen who was peeling chittum bark from a tree nearby.
At the time, authorities were able to determine that Lahti had died after being shot twice in the head, and they classified the death as a homicide. But, outside of clothing items and a set of denture plates inscribed with a partially illegible set of numbers, there was too little evidence recovered from the scene to generate leads in the case.
The sheriff’s office estimated that Lahti had been killed almost a decade before his remains were uncovered. It would take more than another 50 years to identify him.
Armes Henry Lahti, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II. Coos County Sheriff’s Office/Othram Inc.
In 2025, authorities began to review the details of what had become a cold case. The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office submitted evidence to a laboratory that specializes in investigative genetic genealogy, a crime-solving approach that combines DNA profiling and “family tree” research to help identify unknown victims of crimes. Although expensive, the technique is being used more and more often to close long-unsolved murder or missing persons cases.
Scientists were able to extract enough DNA from the evidence collected during the initial investigation. Eventually, their analyses led law enforcement to Lahti’s relatives, according to the lab that performed the testing.
Born in 1909, Lahti was described by family members as an avid fisherman and a large yet gentle man ironically nicknamed “Mousy.” Relatives remembered him as someone who “loved the sea and was proud of his service to his country,” the sheriff’s office said.
Even though the remains have now been identified, authorities haven’t pieced together the circumstances surrounding his death or who might be responsible for it. The sheriff’s office said that investigators have learned Lahti “had a dispute at a bar” shortly before his disappearance, after which he “walked away with a rifle.” According to the office, that dispute likely took place in 1965.
“While the case is as old as 60 years ago, we would like to bring justice to Armes and his family,” the office said. They’ve asked anyone with information, “no matter how seemingly small,” to contact them.
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