In April 2017, 31-year-old Shane Allen Workman left the Lewistown, Pennsylvania home he shared with his parents for a short walk to a Sheetz convenience store just one block away. Somehow, he never made it back.
Shane was the father of a 14-year-old daughter, and in the days, months, and eventually years that followed, his family searched for answers. Detectives pursued multiple leads, including information from cell phone records, but despite their efforts, no one could determine what had happened to him.
Then, in the summer of 2021, a duck hunter made a discovery on a rocky outcropping in the Susquehanna River about 60 miles away. Those partial remains were eventually determined to have belonged to a male, but investigators had few clues to help determine who he was. Despite years of investigative work, the mystery remained unsolved.
Then in August 2024, the Lancaster County Coroner's Office submitted the case to the DNA Doe Project, hoping investigative genetic genealogy could succeed where traditional methods had not. Volunteer genealogists officially began researching the case in March 2026, and within just a few weeks, they identified Shane as the strongest candidate. Additional DNA testing later confirmed the match. After nearly a decade of uncertainty, Shane finally has his name back.
While his identification answers one important question for his family, the investigation into what happened to him is not over. Detectives have said they continue to pursue leads and ask anyone with information about Shane's disappearance to contact the Lewistown Police Department.
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