MACON, GA (RNN) - State authorities from Michigan, Georgia and Texas have used DNA testing to solve a nearly 40-year-old cold case involving a missing boy.
Andrew Jackson Greer, 15, left Addison High school in Addison, MI, on Feb. 12, 1979, and never returned home, Michigan State Police said.
His case remained cold for years until a Georgia deputy made the connection between a "John Doe" buried in a pauper's grave in Macon, GA, and Greer in 2017. The deputy then notified the Michigan State Police.
Evidence suggests Greer ran away from home on Feb. 12, 1979 and was struck and killed by a semi truck while hitchhiking near Interstate 75 in Macon two days later.
A forensic analyst from the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Tuesday confirmed that DNA from a "John Doe" matched Greer’s DNA, the release said.
Greer's younger brother told theDetroit News that it was a "bittersweet ending."
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