DNA points to Iranian ancestry for a man who died in a suspected self-immolation on a California beach in 2020

Genetic testing by the nonprofit Wolf Pack DNA hints at a possible link to Tehran's Zoroastrian community or eastern Mediterranean populations. Firefighters found his charred remains in a bonfire at Pescadero State Beach, south of San Francisco, on 24 July 2020. The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office believes he built the fire himself. He was aged somewhere between 30 and 65.

The body was so badly burned that standard forensics offered almost no clues.

Investigators have not established that he was Zoroastrian or that faith played any role.

Genealogy database matches have still failed to produce a name more than six years on.