Boy who vanished in 1979 found in grave 765 miles from home

Andrew Jackson Greer disappeared from his Michigan high school in 1979. (NamUs.gov)

DNA testing has confirmed that unidentified remains in a pauper's grave in Georgia belong to a 15-year-old Michigan boy who ran away from home after school nearly 40 years ago, authorities said.

Andrew Jackson Greer walked out of Addison High School in Lenawee County on Feb. 12, 1979, and simply never returned home, marking the start of a nearly four-decade mystery for relatives and friends in his hometown of Clayton.

But the cold case was finally solved after a forensic analyst from the Center of Human Identification at the University of North Texas confirmed that DNA from a "John Doe" buried in a pauper’s grave in Macon, Ga., matches Greer’s, Michigan State Police announced Tuesday.

The investigation was reopened in 2014 using new developments in technology and resources. Results of the DNA testing found that it was 1.9 trillion times more likely that the DNA from the “John Doe” was that of Greer than not, state police said.

"Together, the DNA results and police reports conclude they are one in [sic] the same," state police officials said in a news release announcing the find.