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Mystery Man – Country Boy to Nationally Respected Forensic Expert

Longtime friend Esco Jarnagin and I recently met for lunch with a most interesting person. Seventy-nine year-old Arthur Milo Bohanan has come from the life of a Smoky Mountain country boy to becoming one of the most respected forensic experts in the country. A humble friendly man with a quick smile, Arthur’s experiences can fill several books. In fact, he’s written 18 books.

Arthur was born the 12th child of Rev. Russell Bohanan and his wife, the former Vetia Marie Plemmon. Rev. Bohanan had outlived his first 2 wives and W.C. and Arthur were his last children. W.C. and Arthur, along with 2 children from a previous mother were raised on hill farms that provided most of the family’s basic living. Every family member was expected to pull their share of the weight, and young Arthur would learn a strong work ethic at an early age.

His father would preach across Jefferson and Sevier Counties and would sometimes bring in an offering of up to $1.50, which was as much as two congregations could provide.

Rev. Bohanan would later get a job as a seasonal laborer in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1957 which paid $1.10 an hour – a reasonable rate at the time, and which raised the Bohanan’s standard of living.

While living on a Jefferson County farm, Arthur would attend the closer Sevier County High School. After reading the “FBI Story” from the school library, he would become hooked on criminology. In a detective magazine, he came upon an advertisement from The Institute of Applied Science for a home study course in fingerprinting.

The institute was well recognized and young Arthur found himself qualified in latent fingerprinting.

When Sevier County Sheriff Ray Noland learned of Arthur’s achievement, Arthur was pulled out of school to check on fingerprints for a concession stand break- in and was successful.

That success would lead to the sheriff taking Arthur out of school for other cases, with the only student having the same privilege being Dolly Parton. Dolly would leave to perform on the Cas Walker Show, return to school, wash off her make-up, comb out her teased hair, then return to class. By the time he was 18, Arthur would be working for the sheriff’s department.

It was a time when some deputies were still using CB radios instead of the more expensive sheriff’s band radios. With Gatlinburg policeman Bud Parton being the only other in the area who knew rolling and reading fingerprints. Arthur would build the first fingerprint cabinet for the department.

There were times when the office would close at 10, with Arthur sleeping on the cot and leaving the homeowners to protect themselves with their shotguns.

With no computers available t the time, most records were kept in books. Arthur would soon be recommended for a job with the FBI and moved to Washington, D.C.,, where the young country boy would be in for culture shock, but would graduate from the FBI fingerprint school.

In 1965 he would join the Army to be trained as a Military Policeman, where he would be assigned to guard the grave of President Kennedy and would soon be assigned to the Pentagon to work with base security. As an 18 year-old, Arthur had met 14 year-old Ann Riddle at a church revival and the two would stay in touch over the years. Rising in rank quickly, he would marry Ann in 1966.

The young couple would earn money on the side by sewing patches on military uniforms while Arthur would serve as a fishing guide for dignitaries and would chauffeur officers. After a friend, Colonel McBride would recommend Arthur to the Army Investigation Division (CID) where he would be promoted to warrant officer. Arthur would leave the Army in 1968.

Arthur’s dad had died in 1966 and his mother would later remarry the kindly George Barnes .Following the Army, Arthur would work for the Jefferson County Sheriff Department, where he would sideline by doing background checks for Oak Ridge government and home insurance companies.

After living with his mom for a while, Arthur and Ann would buy a used mobile home ‘n move to their own lot, where they would buy their first air conditioner for hot weather.

They would later buy and remodel a home across from Arthur’s former Sims School .Their first child, Rebecca Ann would be born I 1977, and would later marry Donny Brown, while their second child, Ben, would come 4 years later.

Ben would later marry Kristen Adams and they would have daughter Lacie before Ben was killed in a tragic auto accident in 2004.

Arthur would begin studying at WSCC while also attending the Knoxville Police Academy and would head to ETSU to graduate in criminal justice with honors. His research had been on bullet proof vests. He would then be hired by the Knoxville Police Department, and would begin work by walking a beat. Then assigned to the Criminalistics Unit, where, after building an easier to use mug shot book and developing a rape kit, he would eventually be promoted to Specialist III, the highest department rank.

With the coming of the automated fingerprinting system, Arthur would make 4 identifications in one day, and would develop a crime scene package. His job would require investigating most all the horrible murders during his tenure.

Arthur would patent a device to get the killers fingerprints from a victim’s body and would be granted an honorary doctorate in 1998 DNA would prove a boon to crime solving and Arthur would take his skill to a deep level. Then assigned to record all autopsies and questionable deaths, Arthur would begin a close relationship with Dr. Bass of the Body Farm, which remains to this day. Now a deputy coroner, he would also work with Morristown’s Dr. C. Blake. His job would also expand to child exploitation and he would work to establish the National Forensics Academy. Arthur’s fame would spread across the country and he would frequently be called to help area police departments as well as put on workshops and give lectures across the county.

Pressure and stress would lead to Arthur’s retirement from the police force in 2001, but he would soon sign up with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) which would work with large disasters. He would be called out tor Korean flight 801, which crashed in the Guam jungle, where their work would involve identifying the bodies.

Hurricane Floyd would leave caskets floated above ground which would require identification. Other disasters would be at the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina and the Columbia Space Shuttle crash.

Long and extensive work on these and other disasters would leave Arthur exhausted and ill, which would take a long time at recovery.

Arthur Milo Bohanan has well earned his rest and now enjoys being surrounded by his wife and many grand and great grandchildren. He’s a noted cook at church functions and still locates unmarked graves where his skill can detect whether a buried body is male or female.

A much wider version of Arthur’s story can be found in his excellent book “Prints of a Man.” Arthur has led an extensive and worthwhile life and is an extraordinary person in every measurement.