CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — Investigators in Clark County have solved a 20-year-old cold case using DNA tracing. KGW spoke with a family member who said they’re relieved to finally know what happened to their loved one and get closure, but it’s been a hard road.

“I had already gone through just a death last week, and two years ago with my mom, now my brother might be dead. It’s been rough,” said Robert Johnson.

For 20 years, Johnson never heard from his brother, James Orin Johnson.

“Unfortunately he had gotten into drugs and he was running with the wrong people again,” said Johnson. “Deep in my heart, I knew he wasn’t around anymore.”

Even so, Johnson, who lives in Utah, said he never expected the call he got earlier this month from the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office. He said they told him that with DNA testing and forensic genealogy, investigators had discovered that a body that was found in Ridgefield back in 2002 after an apparent suicide belonged to his brother.

“Forensic genealogy is this new wave of scientific…