GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP/WCSC) – Human remains discovered 31 years ago south of Indianapolis have been identified as a man from South Carolina, authorities said.
Relatives of Michael Benjamin Davis said they had lost contact with him in the late 1980s, the Johnson County coroner’s office said.
DNA testing and genealogy work helped scientists determine the identity of the remains found in 1993 at what is now a golf course in Greenwood, Indiana, the coroner’s office said in a written statement Sunday.
The coroner’s office said on Facebook they were able to locate potential family members after “months of emails, phone calls and assistance from other law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and Canada.” They sent those family members DNA kits to assist in confirming the identity, the post states.
“Although this case has long been suspected of having been a homicide, the cause and manner of death have been ruled undetermined unless more information is discovered,” the coroner’s office said.
Davis was born in Richland County, South Carolina, in 1965, according to DNASolves.com, which works with police to assist in human identification cases.
Davis’ remains were the only known unidentified set of remains found in Johnson County, investigators said.
Davis’ family plans to travel to Indiana to collect the remains and speak to news media Thursday, the coroner’s office said.
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