‘Chimney Doe’ skeleton found in music store chimney identified after nearly 35 years

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - The identity of a man found dead in a chimney nearly 35 years ago was finally identified.

Madison Police Department Chief Shon Barnes said investigative genetic genealogy aided in identifying the man as Ronnie Joe Kirk. His remains were found on Sept. 3, 1989, at the Good ‘n Loud music store by a construction contractor in Madison, Wisconsin.

“This unsolved case has puzzled people across the country for more than three decades, a human skeleton found in the chimney of a Madison music store way back in 1989,” Barnes said.

At the time, police reported that an autopsy determined the individual was a white man between the ages of 18-35 and was 5 feet, 7 inches tall. Authorities also noted there was no way he could have gotten into the pipe on his own where his remains were found from within the building.

In 2019, Madison Police Detective Lindsey Ludden submitted the case to the DNA Doe Project. DNA Doe Project Team Leader Gwenn Knapp said it took two years to develop a DNA profile from a rootless hair as their sample.

Volunteers at the nonprofit were able to determine Kirk was originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was born in 1942, and was adopted. Knapp explained that adoption can make genealogy work challenging.

“This was such a unique case with adoption, and multiple generations of different marriages, despite having a relatively close DNA relative match in the family,” Knapp said. “The shrewd genealogy work done by my team was amazing to tease out the various relationships. We’re so excited that we can give Ronnie Kirk his name back, and hope his family has some closure for Ronnie being missing for so long.”

Authorities still do not know Kirk’s approximate age or when he died. They are also still trying to piece together why he was in Madison, Wisconsin. At the time when he was found, investigators noted he was wearing what was thought to be a dress and an iron cross necklace.

The music store where Kirk’s remains were found was torn down years later and replaced by a Moka coffee shop.

Barnes hopes now that Kirk has his name back, people who may recognize him or have information about him will come forward to investigators.

“Someone will remember him and we’ll do everything that we can to try to trace down if he worked here, if he lived here or if he was just passing through, or going somewhere else,” Chief Barnes said. “We don’t know.”

Officials noted Kirk had connections to Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama and Wisconsin.

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