After a lengthy investigation, the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Bureau rejected the conclusions of a former UC Santa Barbara anthropologist that bone fragments found in 2021 are the remains of missing Montecito debris flow victim Jack Cantin.
In doing so, the coroner announced that the missing person case remains open for the 17-year-old, one of two victims of the debris flows whose bodies were never found.
The Cantin family home was destroyed in the Jan. 9, 2018, debris flows that killed 23 people.
Kim Cantin and her then-14-year-old daughter, Lauren, were severely injured and survived. Kim Cantin’s husband, Dave Cantin, and their son, Jack, died in the disaster.
Cantin started her own searches for Jack’s remains after the official ones ended, and in July 2021, she announced that Jack’s remains had been unearthed with the help of a UCSB anthropology department team led by former professor Danielle Kurin.
On July 12, a report by coroner’s Sgt. Chad Biedinger concluded that the Jack Cantin missing person case is still an open investigation.
In addition to examinations by Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Bureau staff, the samples were sent to, examined by and tested by forensic anthropologists and others at Forensic Anthropology Consulting Services Inc., the Kern County Coroner’s Office and Astrea Forensics.
An analysis from Astrea Forensics on one of the largest bone fragments determined that there was “no evidence to support the tested bone sample is of human origin,” and the strongest evidence pointed to it being from a cow, according to Biedinger’s report, which Noozhawk obtained through a California Public Records Act request.
Another analysis found that one of the fragments was plant-based.
The Kern County Coroner’s Office conducted ANDE rapid DNA analysis on fragments and had inconclusive results, saying the samples were poor and had low amounts of DNA, according to Biedinger’s report.
Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Bureau detectives compared the analysis reports against DNA analysis for Kim and Dave Cantin and “did not find a correlation between the two suspected bone fragment sample rapid DNA reports and the DNA analysis reports for Kim and (Dave).”
The detective “also contacted the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’ s Department representative with ANDE Rapid DNA, who also stated the data generated by the analysis reports was too low in quality to verify a DNA profile,” Biedinger wrote in the report.
Going back to May 2021, Kurin reported that the search team found the suspected bone fragments in an undisclosed Montecito location and analyzed them at UCSB. She was “‘pretty confident’ they were human bones and from someone within the decedent’s age range,” Biedinger wrote in his report.
Kim Cantin said she was willing to transport fragments to the Coroner’s Bureau for analysis and rapid DNA analysis, but indicated she only wanted one of the two pieces to be tested since the process could destroy it, the Coroner’s Bureau report said.
Cantin said the excavation site was “in line” with her residence in Montecito, which was destroyed in the debris flows, and near the areas where she and her daughter were rescued.
The two fragments were shipped to a forensic anthropologist who determined a suspected “toe bone” was plant-based, and the other fragment appeared to be bone, according to Biedinger’s report.
In July 2021, Cantin announced that Jack’s remains had been found, and Kurin reported that the search found additional suspected bone fragments and objects believed to be from Jack Cantin’s room.
Kurin’s one-page report states that eight fragments of bone were located by the UCSB Bioarchaeology & Forensics Bone Lab and “we are over 90% certain that these remains are those of Jack Cantin.”
Biedinger wrote that the Sheriff’s Office and Coroner’s Bureau “were not aware of any additional bones found until the media release.”
The report also said that Cantin asked for a certificate of death since she planned to bury the bone fragments.
The court had already issued a declaration of delayed death since Jack Cantin is believed to be deceased since his remains were not found after the debris flow and subsequent searches
“Due to Jack’s identity not being confirmed via the found suspected bone fragments, the Coroner’s Bureau issued no Certificate of Death,” Biedinger wrote in his report.
A funeral was held for Jack Cantin on Aug. 11, 2021.
Cantin filed a federal lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office related to possession of the suspected bone fragments and the death certificate decision.
The case was dismissed in January at the request of her attorney, Barry Cappello, who said his firm was negotiating with the county toward a possible settlement. When reached this week, Cappello said he had no comment on the Sheriff’s Office report.
When asked for comment on the report and investigation, Sheriff’s Office public information officer Raquel Zick said the missing person case remains open.
Of the 23 people killed in the 2018 debris flows, two bodies were not recovered: Jack Cantin and 2-year-old Lydia Sutthithepa, whose family lived about 200 yards upstream of the Cantin home along Montecito Creek.
Four members of the Sutthithepa-Taylor family were killed in the debris flows, including Pinit “Oom” Sutthithepa, 30; his 6-year-old son, Peerawat, known as “Pasta” who attended Cold Spring School; his father-in-law, Richard Loring Taylor, 79; and his 2-year-old daughter, Lydia.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.