Hill Building John Doe now has a name

ST. PAUL — A man whose partially decomposed body was discovered in an abandoned St. Paul building in 1985 now has a name.

The DNA Doe Project has identified the John Doe as Frank Nicholas Augenti, who was 33 years old at the time of his death.

Augenti's body was discovered by authorities on Feb. 7, 1985 on the second floor of the JJ Hill Bulding.

Exposure to the harsh winter elements led to his death, likely weeks to months before he was found, according to a DNA Doe Project press release.

At the time, authorities determined he was a Caucasian male between the ages of 20 to 40. He had medium length brown hair, along with a beard. He stood roughly 5 feet, 11 inches tall.

A duffel bag found near his body included extra items of clothing, but gave no clue as to his identity.

The Ramsey Medical Examiner's Office handed the case over to DNA Doe Project's team of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists this year, who quickly discovered a clear link through Augenti's cousin, whose DNA was uploaded in the nationwide database, GEDmatch.

“We were very fortunate that a cousin had chosen to upload their DNA results to GEDmatch,” DNA Doe Project team co-leader Lisa Ivany said in a press release. “Without their DNA, this case would still be unsolved. Italian Americans are underrepresented on the DNA databases we have access to, but the more that people upload their DNA results to GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA or DNAJustice, the more cases we’ll be able to solve.”

In addition to the DNA match, investigators discovered Augenti seemingly went missing from records in the 1980s. They tracked his last known address to New York City. He was born in Pennsylvania.

It is still not clear what led Augenti to St. Paul.