Authorities said John Cizek, 71, of Newark, California, was the victim of a homicide committed in June 2016. The suspect in the case, David Little, died by suicide that year while in custody at the Jefferson County jail.
Cizek was last seen on June 12, 2016, entering his RV outside a store in Alamosa. Investigators believed Little killed Cizek over the vehicle, but for years, they couldn’t find his body.
Then, in May 2024, a fisherman found skeletal remains in a frozen grave near a river at the Deer Creek Campground in Bailey. The skull had an apparent gunshot wound consistent with an execution-style killing, investigators said.
Quickly, the Park County coroner turned to forensic genetic genealogy services. Those results showed Czechoslovakian ancestry, consistent with Cizek’s family history. Experts built an entire family tree, dating back to the 1700s.
On Tuesday, authorities received final confirmation of a match between a sample of one of Cizek’s shirts and DNA gathered from the skeletal remains.
“While we can’t bring Mr. Cizek back, we can provide his family the closure they deserve,” said Tammi Krebs, a special agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, at a Friday morning news conference.
Updated 5:13 p.m. March 27, 2026: This article was updated to correct the timing of when John Cizek’s body was found in the subheadline and where he was shot.
