HARTLAND, VT — Vermont State Police confirmed Monday that human remains found in Connecticut in 2006 belong to a man who went missing while fishing in Hartland 25 years ago.
Brian Cranfield, 37, of Weathersfield, and Terry Brinegar, 44, of Mount Holly, were fishing together on April 9, 2001, when their boat overturned at Sumner Falls.
Both men were presumed drowned.
Brinegar’s body was recovered on April 24, 2001, at the Bellows Falls Dam, but Cranfield’s remains were never located.
In October 2006, Connecticut State Police recovered a human skull along the Connecticut River in Haddam, Connecticut.
Following DNA testing in summer 2025 by the Connecticut Chief State Medical Examiner’s Office, authorities sent material from the skull to Othram, a Texas company that uses DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy to assist police investigations.
Connecticut State Police obtained a DNA sample from Cranfield’s brother and sent it to Othram for comparison.
Othram notified Connecticut State Police this past weekend that the sample matched the skull discovered in 2006, confirming Cranfield’s identity.
Connecticut State Police subsequently informed Vermont State Police of the match.
The incident is not considered suspicious, and the Vermont State Police case is now closed.
