Identity of lone camper confirmed

It was indeed a mentally ill Pennsylvania man whose bones were found in Lutz, DNA testing shows.

By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 23, 2002

LUTZ -- A decade of doubt about the fate of Elmer "Butch" Sieger Jr. has come to an end.

DNA testing has confirmed that Sieger, a troubled Pennsylvanian, died at a makeshift campsite in the woods off Debuel Road and U.S. 41 in Lutz.

When Sieger's bones were found last year, he had been out of touch with his family in Pennsylvania and Indiana for nine years.

"For me, at least, it's closure," said Sieger's youngest child, Glenn Sieger, 32, a factory worker in Shoemakersville, Pa. "At least I know where he's at."

But the younger Sieger said new questions now spring up, such as whether Sieger, an Air Force veteran who would be 63 now, is due benefits.

"We don't know what life insurance policies he had," Glenn Sieger said. "We pretty much don't know what he had, if anything."

Two government delays prolonged the family's mystery. When Butch Sieger's bones were discovered in February 2001, a driver's license was found in a frayed wallet. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office contacted a variety of agencies in unsuccessful attempts to find the next of kin. Early this year, the Times used an Internet search to locate Elmer Sieger Sr. in Mohrsville, Pa.

With that, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Department commissioned DNA testing. It sent bone specimens to a Melbourne laboratory in February, but the lab soon became swamped with other orders. So several weeks ago, the specimens were transferred to National Paternity Services in Tampa, which obtained DNA from a molar.

The company then sent Elmer Sieger Sr. a kit that allowed him to submit a saliva sample. DNA comparison produced a likelihood of 99.8334 percent that the molar and saliva were from child and parent.

Glenn Sieger said his father had been diagnosed with severe manic-depression and didn't like taking lithium, which had been prescribed for him.

"He said, 'When I die, let the state bury me.' "

The family may let Butch Sieger's bones be cremated here, a common practice with indigent deaths, said Dick Bailey, the medical examiner's manager of operations.

"We can send the remains, which are actually called cremains, up there," Bailey said.

-- Bill Coats can be reached at (813) 269-5309 or coats@sptimes.com.

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