A hitchhiker who died in a collision on Interstate 15 in 1974 has been identified as a 20-year-old Indiana man.
On Nov. 8, 1974, the hitchhiker was traveling in a van with three other people on Interstate 15 near Baker when it collided with a truck and caught fire. Both the driver and the hitchhiker died, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators at the time learned that he was likely between 20 and 30 years old and went by “Terrance” or “Lee.” He apparently had mentioned previously living in Indiana and Florida, and investigators believed at the time that he might have been picked up in Iowa and heading to Nevada to collect a paycheck from a dishwashing job.
Now, authorities say they have identified him as Terrance Lee Ronco, a 20-year-old Indiana native and military veteran.
For years, investigators chased leads in an attempt to identify Ronco, including entering his dental information into the Missing and Unidentified Persons System to compare it with missing-person records, and uploading a DNA profile to the Combined DNA Index System, a DNA database managed by the FBI. Investigators also made information on the case available through the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in hopes that it would produce additional leads.
But for years, Ronco remained unidentified.
In February 2026, the sheriff’s department began working on the case with the DNA Doe Project, a volunteer organization of investigative genealogists. The genealogists’ research indicated likely familial connections to Indiana and Italian ancestry, leading investigators to focus their leads on the greater Chicago area, particularly in Porter County, Ind.
Within four days, the researchers identified Ronco as a potential candidate for the unidentified hitchhiker. A DNA test confirmed the theory, the sheriff’s department said.
Investigators struggled to identify Ronco for many years in part because Ronco had never been reported missing, so there was no missing-person case connected to Ronco in the databases used by investigators. Researchers later found that Ronco had been estranged from his family for decades.