Norman Grasser biography: 13 things about Chicago, Illinois native

Norman John Christopher Schwering Grasser was an American man from Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was born in Chicago to Cyrill Nicklaus John Grasser and Marjorie Julia Schwering Grasser.

On September 17, 1947, Norman’s grandmother Wilhelmina Marie Christine Rades Grasser died in Sheboygan, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, USA at age 70. On November 9, 1959, his grandfather John George Schwering died in Fort Dodge, Webster County, Iowa, USA at age 83.

Norman was 6’0″ tall and he weighed around 170 pounds. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. On September 3, 1961, his grandfather Michael Grasser died in Sheboygan at age 87.
2. On December 23, 1971, his grandmother Margaret Ann Kempter Schwering died in Chicago at age 91.
3. On January 20, 1980, he was reported missing in Chicago. He was 31.
4. On March 19, 1980, his body was found in the snow in a field in Pine Lake, Oneida County, Wisconsin. A forensic autopsy performed at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin determined that he had died from cold exposure due to hypothermia. His fingerprints were sent to the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories and the Federal Bureau of Investigation but no matches were found.
5. On April 12, 1988, his mother died at Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago at age 75.
6. On March 2, 1997, his half-brother Roland Leroy Grasser died in Glen Rose, Hot Spring County, Arkansas, USA at age 64.
7. On March 10, 2001, his father died in Pineville, Mecklenburg Country, North Carolina, USA at age 96.
8. In August 2016, a memorial tombstone for him was placed in All Saints Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum in Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois.
9. In 2019, he was entered into NamUs, a national database for missing and unidentified and unclaimed person cases across the U.S.
10. In April 2021, his body was exhumed and taken to the Fond du Lac Medical Examiner’s Office in Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin to be processed for deoxyribonucleic acid collection and the collected items were sent to the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, USA for DNA profiling.
11. On May 9, 2021, his half-sister Virginia Ruth Agnes Grasser Stuhrenberg died in Charlotte, Mecklenburg died at age 85.
12. In January 2023, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office enlisted the assistance of Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center to perform advanced forensic DNA testing of his body and a genealogy search. Students in the college helped develop a lead that resulted in his identification.
13. On December 15, 2023, Oneida, Forest and Vilas County medical examiner Crystal L. Schaub officially announced his identification.