Remains of man lost at sea for 24 years identified.

Jeffrey Hulliger, 36, was fishing with his friend Greg Mitchell near a Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute buoy off Moss Landing in 1997 when their boat, Salmon’s Patty, for one reason or another, began taking on water. They sent a distress signal to the Coast Guard, sparking a days-long search. Rescue personnel, aided by a helicopter and an airplane, searched to no avail, finding debris but no boat or bodies.

Twenty-four years later, on March 28, 2021, a fisherman pulled up partial skeletal remains in a net just outside the boundaries of Monterey Bay. The remains were inside a one-piece fleece garment, along with five keys and two coins. The garment resembled either the inner lining of a dry suit or an emergency survival suit.

Researchers searched the California Missing and Unidentified Persons System for a match but came up empty. 

In 2022, the Monterey County Cold Case Task Force—made up of the Monterey County District Attorney's Office, the Sheriff-Coroner's Office and the Monterey Police Department—partnered with the forensics company Othram to determine whether advanced DNA testing could help identify the man.

It proved successful: Using the extracted DNA, genealogists identified possible relatives, giving investigators fresh leads to follow. Those leads ultimately confirmed the remains belonged to Hulliger. Officials made the identification in September 2024, and announced the findings this week.

His friend and boatmate, Greg Mitchell, has never been found.

"There is a fishermen's memorial established near where this man was lost that is dedicated to the fishermen who lost their lives at sea," said Kristen Mittelman, Chief Development Officer for Othram, the company that analyzed the DNA. "Now when their remains are found, we have a technology that can bring answers to their families and those answers can bring resolution."