Man's remains identified after nearly 40 years | Biology

TUCSON (KVOA) – For nearly 40 years, an Idaho man and his mother didn't know if their loved one was dead or alive.

A DNA test proved the man's suspicions were correct.

But it took four decades to learn the fate of this man.

The remains no longer belong to John Doe, but to John Leigh III, who died in a violent plane crash in August 1984.

The accident site was not found until 13 years later by hikers in the Rincon Mountains. They took a photo and asked to remain anonymous.

They told News 4 “The site was very steep, brushy and difficult. The photo obviously shows part of the wreckage among the brush.”

News 4 spoke to John IV: “I really want to walk to the crash site, like I said before, it's the official burial site, and I want to pay my respects if I can make it there .”

He was only 4 years old when his father disappeared.

“It doesn't really affect me like it affects my mother, because I never knew him, and for me the most important thing is that I know now that he didn't leave town and that gives me peace.”

Dr. Bruce Anderson works for the Medical Examiner's Office. He said there were the remains of four adult men who were on board the plane. He had to exhume the remains when Susan Leigh and her son John IV wanted to know if their beloved John III was on that ill-fated flight.

He sent DNA samples from the bones to three different labs, but it was the California Department of Justice's Missing Persons DNA Program that not only identified Leigh's DNA, but that of the other three as well.

Anderson said: “It took a while for DNA technology to improve and be able to get DNA profiles, good quality DNA profiles, from degraded bones like this.”

Several personal effects were also found in the wreckage, in addition to remains. such as aviator glasses, a BIC lighter, a briefcase lock and a pocket knife.