ADDISON, Mich. – DNA tests have confirmed a "John Doe" buried in Georgia is a 15-year-old boy from Lenawee County who went missing in 1979, officials said.
On Feb. 12, 1979, Andrew Jackson Greer left Addison High School and failed to return home. His whereabouts were unknown for more than 39 years.
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The case was cold after investigations by Michigan State Police troopers in 1979 and Lenawee County sheriff's deputies in 2000. It was reopened in 2014.
A forensic analyst from the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas confirmed Tuesday that DNA from a "John Doe" buried in a pauper's grave in Macon, Georgia, in 1979, matches Greer's DNA.
In December 2017, a retired Bibb County Sheriff’s Department deputy made the connection between the “John Doe” and Greer.
The retired deputy notified MSP detectives, who then traveled to Macon in April to exhume the body.
Detectives were able to successfully recover the body for additional testing.
A DNA sample was taken at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and sent to the Center for Human Identification for comparison. The results concluded that it was 1.9 trillion times more likely that the DNA from “John Doe” was that of Greer than not.
Officials said all indications are that Greer ran away from home Feb. 12, 1979, and was killed when he was struck by a semi truck while hitchhiking down I-75 near Macon on Feb. 14, 1979.
Greer’s identity has been a mystery to Georgia authorities until now, and MSP troopers had no information on his whereabouts until the connection was made in December 2017.
Arrangements are currently being made to bring Greer’s body back to Michigan.