On April 3, 1999 authorities received an anonymous letter postmarked from Long Beach with a photograph of a man bearing tattoos seemingly identical to those on the John Doe arm.
Homicide investigators re-opened the case based on the tentative identification of the victim as Jake Bannon.

They were able to identify a man by the name of Jake Bannon who lived in Topanga Canyon, not far from Malibu.  He had never been reported missing. His ex-wife explained that Bannon had often disappeared for long periods of time and she had simply given up on him, figuring he'd met a new woman. He was known to have had numerous extra-marital affairs.  He had been married three times.

According to the ex-wife and associates of Bannon, they last heard from him around the third week of August, 1989.  He had been working on fishing boats out of Long Beach, California.  No one really believed this is what he was doing on the boats, but they never challenged Bannon regarding his activities. 

Jake Bannon was described as an affable, gregarious man with a love of motorcycles and heavy drinking.  He spent most of his free time in bars frequented by motorcycle clubs, but he never officially became a member of any of these groups. 

He tended to move from job to job, mainly doing day laborer type work. He was a skilled carpenter and plumber, but he disliked a rigid schedule.  He tended to have problems with authority, and preferred to find odd jobs where he could be his own boss, according to past employers.

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