Rock County John Doe: The Tragic Story of Carl Isaacs Jr.

On November 26, 1995, the skeletal remains of an unidentified young man were discovered at Turtle Creek (near Clinton, Wisconsin). He became known as the ‘Rock County John Doe’, or the ‘John Clinton Doe’ (JCD, for short). For decades, his identity remained unknown. On June 14, 2022, ‘Rock County John Doe’ was formally identified as Carl Isaacs Jr.

At around nine in the morning (on November 26, 1995), a man named Gary Gilbank had been hunting on his parents’ property alongside his nephews, when they stumbled across the skeletal remains of an unidentified young man. The man’s remains had been located in a remote heavily wooded area, by Turtle Creek (Clinton, Wisconsin). The man’s remains had been heavily decomposed — and it was believed that he’d been there for months, or even up to a year. He’d been found on a steep bank about ten feet away from the creek, four feet away from the barbed wire that surrounded the hunters’ hundred-acre property.

The man’s remains were found lying facedown, with his hands over his head. His head and back were covered up with a denim jacket. His skeletal remains had been completely intact, and he’d been fully dressed (save for a missing shoe). He had been white, estimated to be between sixteen to twenty years old. He had been between 5’4” to 5’6”, and had weighed about 140 pounds, with long brown hair. He’d had straight teeth, and there was evidence that he’d had adequate dental care over the years — as he’d had a few fillings. John Doe still had his wisdom teeth. One of them had been impacted, and two of them were partially erupted.

He had been wearing a ‘Venom’ band t-shirt, which had the image of a gold five-pointed star in a circle, with a goat head. The t-shirt said ‘Welcome to hell’, and had been sold at Venom’s 1987 tour. He’d also been wearing medium-sized grey camouflage pants, medium-sized Bart Simpson boxers, and a flannel red and green plaid jacket. There had been a size nine-and-a-half Black Nike Air Bound basketball shoe found beside John Doe’s body, though the other shoe was missing.

He’d had also had a few small items with him — a black Aquatech watch, a tube of Carmex lip balm, a few cigarette butts, and a Budweiser disposable lighter that said ‘Proud to be Your Bud’. John Doe had been wearing a distinct handmade pendant of a goat head with curved antlers crafted out of a dinner fork.

Because of the man’s band t-shirt, and goat head pendant, the authorities thought that he was likely a metal head. They started to investigate this possible angle, asking local heavy metal fans if they knew the identity of the unidentified man. But they came up empty.

When the police had questioned locals about John Doe, there were a few witnesses who said that they might’ve seen him. On October 16, 1994, at around 5:30 PM, a man believed to be in his early twenties had been seen in the same area where John Doe’s remains were later found. He had appeared to be drunk, and looked visibly upset. The man fit the general description of John Doe, and had been wearing similar clothes. The police nicknamed this man as ‘River Guy’.

‘River Guy’ had been seen falling into Turtle Creek a few times, and had been struggling to climb up the steep bank. He’d been yelling at the witnesses, telling them to get away from him. The man had also told them that he was a fugitive — and that he had recently been wronged by a woman named Mary. After he had calmed down somewhat, ‘River Guy’ had sat down on the bank, and was quieter. The police had released a facial composite image of ‘River Guy’, which depicted him as being a long-haired older man with a beard.

1994 composite sketch of ‘River Guy’

There were theories that ‘River Guy’, and ‘Rock County John Doe’ were one and the same. During the early part of the investigation, the authorities believed that the timeline fit, because John Doe’s death was believed to have taken place in Autumn 1995 — around the same time as witnesses had seen ‘River Guy’ in the area. But later on, when John Doe’s remains were further investigated by a modern forensic facility, it was believed that John Doe had actually died in May or June 1995 — which was months before ‘River Guy’ had been spotted. And if that were the case, it meant that he had been dead for a few months, before his remains were discovered. It is still possible that they were the same person, but nobody can truly know for certain.

The goat head pendant that John Doe had in his possession at the time of his death, was a unique piece of jewelry, and there was some hope that if they could determine where he’d acquired it, they could learn more about him. In 2010, the police were able to trace the pendant to a local Janesville artist, who had been a heavy metal fan. They reached out to him, and asked him about John Doe’s pendant. The artist was able to identify the pendant as one that he had made years prior. But though he acknowledged that he’d made that particular piece of jewelry, the artist stated that he didn’t know who John Doe was. Over the years, the man had made about a dozen of the goat head pendants. He’d given some of them away as gifts, and sold a few others. Though the police worked on tracking down the other artist’s pendants (in hopes of identifying John Doe), they were unable to find a match.

2014 reconstruction

In 2013, ‘Project Edan’ released a facial reconstruction of ‘Rock County John Doe’. However, the reconstruction was criticized by the police, as they believed that it was inaccurate. A second reconstruction was released a year later by the FBI, which was believed to be a much more accurate rendition. This reconstruction showed John Doe as being a twenty-year-old man with long, dark hair, and high cheekbones. In 2016, the FBI released another reconstruction, which had ‘Rock County John Doe’ regressed to age sixteen, because they were still uncertain of John Doe’s age — and having a younger rendition of the unknown man released to the general public could potentially generate new leads in John Doe’s case.

In 2014, a team from the Smithsonian Institution studied ‘Rock County John Doe’s bones, so they could do an isotopic analysis. They hoped to learn as much as they could about the unknown man’s past, in an effort to identify him. What they were able to learn, was that the young man had been from the Midwest — particularly from the Great Lakes region. They believed he had been from the possible states: Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, or Michigan. Because of this analysis, and the fact that he had the locally crafted goat head pendant on him when he’d died, the authorities believed that he had been from the area. Perhaps not from Beloit, but likely from the surrounding area. Surely someone from the area would recognize John Doe’s reconstruction, and give the family some much-needed closure.

It is still unknown exactly how he died. The authorities had not found any signs of trauma, so homicide was not immediately considered (though it could not be fully ruled out). John Doe’s hair was analyzed, and there was no evidence of opiate usage. The theory had been that he’d climbed over the fence, and had gotten soaked in the creek. He may have been drunk, or on drugs at the time. It is possible that he’d become disoriented, possibly from hypothermia, and had ended up dying near the creek. He may have lost his shoe when he’d stumbled into the creek, and it had floated away. It is a theory about what had happened to him, though nobody truly knows what had happened to him. His death was tragic, his life cut short — and it is shrouded in mystery.

In 2018, the ‘DNA Doe Project’ worked alongside ‘NCMEC’, as well as a few genetic companies, to formally identify ‘Rock County John Doe’. It had been decades since his remains had been discovered, and it would be good to finally discover his identity. Then, his loved ones could finally know what had happened to him all those years ago, and he could finally be laid to rest. Because of the continual advances in DNA technology, and databases such as GEDmatch, they were able to use genetic genealogy to track down John Doe’s relatives, which was vital in being able to whittle it down to the man’s identity. They’d identified him in February 2019, though his identity wasn’t officially released by the Rock County Sheriff’s office until June 14, 2022. They had managed to match his DNA to John Doe’s father, and half-siblings, and his family were informed of the positive match.

During the press conference, Sheriff Troy Knudson announced that ‘Rock County John Doe’, or ‘John Clinton Doe’, had been twenty-one-year-old Carl Junior Isaacs Jr., from nearby Delavan, Wisconsin. Carl was born on April 3o, 1974. He had attended Delavan-Darien High School. Their theory that he’d been a local teen had been accurate, as Delavan was just miles from the area where Carl’s remains had been discovered. The photo that the police had used at the 2022 press conference, had been from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

The Sheriff’s office stated that now that Carl had finally been identified, they would be shifting their focus onto learning as much as they could about the circumstances of Carl’s death — and how he had ended up at Turtle Creek all those years ago. They expressed hope that the general public might be able to provide answers, now that Carl’s identity was known.

Carl Isaacs Jr.

Carl Junior Isaacs Jr. had never been reported by his family as a missing person. The police stated that initially, they thought that John Doe had been a teenager who’d aged out of the foster-care system, which was why he had never been reported as a missing person. During the press conference, the police said that over the years, they’d looked at local yearbooks from nearby high schools, to try and identify the young man. They’d also looked up car accident reports, and studied other local reports to try and find anything that could lead to the man’s identity.

In 1992, Carl and a few other teens had damaged about a dozen golf carts, using them for a ‘demolition derby’ once the Delbrook Golf Course shut down for the night. The teens were eventually caught, which led to Carl receiving a five-year prison sentence for burglary and vandalism. He’d already had a criminal history, which consisted of petty theft, burglary, and destruction of property, so the damaged golf courses weren’t his first offence.

During his five-year prison sentence, Carl had been transferred to a few different jails, and by autumn 1993, he’d been at the Oakhill Correctional Institute (located in Oregon, Wisconsin). He’d spent part of his sentence on house arrest, staying at a halfway house on Odana Road (Madison, Wisconsin).

In April 1995, Carl was staying at his mother’s house in Walworth, under house arrest. On April 16, 1995, Carl Isaacs Jr. went missing from his mother’s house. He had never been seen or heard from since that day. Carl was never reported as a missing person when he’d gone missing, and it is unclear if his family were looking for him — or if they’d presumed that he’d simply run away to avoid serving out the rest of his sentence. A Walworth County judge put out an arrest warrant for Carl, on a probation violation. This warrant had still been active as of April 2018.

According to Carl’s childhood friend (Marsha Harris-Johnson), who spoke out in an interview about her late friend, she stated that Carl used to crack jokes to get his friends to laugh, or to break the tension, back when they were in school. She fondly recalled his warm voice, and his laughter. They had lost touch after high school graduation, and though she’d tried to find out what had happened to Carl over the years, Marsha never realized that her friend had been the same John Doe she’d seen in the composite sketch released to the public. The sketch had looked vaguely familiar — but not close enough of a resemblance for her to identify John Doe as Carl. Once she realized that her friend was dead, she had been quite upset to learn what had happened to him all those years ago.

Marsha spoke out about how Carl had struggled in his teen years. He’d had a difficult home life, and he’d relied on his close-knit friend group for support. Carl had been troubled at times, and had made some mistakes — but he had deserved better than dying alone on the creek bed, remaining unidentified for nearly thirty years. Now that he has been identified, Carl can finally be properly mourned, and laid to rest. His skeleton was laid to rest in Johnstown Center Cemetery (located in Rock County, Wisconsin). His skull, however, was cremated. The man’s DNA, and dental records are both on record.

Gary Gilbank, who had found Carl’s body in 1995, spoke out about how he was glad that the man was finally identified. He now owns his parents’ land where he’d discovered Carl Isaacs Jr.’s remains. Gilbank stated the following: ‘I guess I’m glad that they finally identified the remains; a lot for the family of John Doe, kinda put that to reset. I was hoping for a little more information today’.

SOURCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Carl_Isaacs_Jr.

https://www.channel3000.com/news/local-news/john-clinton-doe-remains-found-in-1995-identified-by-rock-co-authorities-but-questions-remain/article_68027021-e069-5dc3-9e2e-66416bc7204e.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20180821033354/http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/New-lead-in-John-Doe-cold-case-266823111.html

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tKM80cdg4qFNYVOgAedwZcOmZEXIZzj9n_X3Vksmv7w/edit?tab=t.0

https://insider.si.edu/2014/07/bones-can-talk-police-ask-smithsonian-scientists-help-20-year-old-mystery/

https://www.wkow.com/news/former-john-doe-spent-years-in-wisconsins-corrections-system-before-his-death/article_757ec3ae-ed04-11ec-b9b6-af6a2774321a.html

https://www.wmtv15news.com/2022/06/14/rock-co-body-found-1995-identified-name-be-released-today/

https://www.wkow.com/news/who-was-carl-isaacs-jr-diving-deeper-into-the-life-of-john-clinton-doe/article_5b87f4da-f1b8-11ec-b859-4bb0463c8f9c.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13067387/carl-junior-isaacs