NEWBURYPORT — Almost 33 years after skeletal remains were found partially buried in marsh grass on Interstate 95 south in Newburyport, the Essex District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that they belonged to a teen reported missing from Harbor School in Newbury in August 1988.
Soon after the remains were discovered on Nov. 28, 1992, an autopsy was conducted, and although no cause of death was declared, the body was determined to be a teenage male.
For decades, state police troopers assigned to the DA’s Office and local police attempted to identify the remains. Although investigators developed significant leads, they were unable to make a positive identification due to limitations in DNA identification.
On Thursday, the DA’s Office, with assistance from Othram – a private forensic laboratory in Woodlands, Texas, identified the remains as those of Anthony Angelli Rea. Rea was born in 1973 and lived part of his childhood in Malden with his mother, according to the DA’s Office.
Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from skeletal remains and used forensic-grade genome sequencing to develop a comprehensive DNA profile. Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team then used the profile in a genealogical search to generate new investigative leads in the case, including the identification of potential relatives of the teen, the DA’s Office said.
Funding for Othram’s casework costs associated with the advanced DNA testing in this case was provided by NamUs, a national program that assists the criminal justice community with the investigation and resolution of missing, unidentified and unclaimed persons cases across the United States and its territories.
NamUs is funded and administered by the National Institute of Justice and managed through a contract with Research Triangle Institute International.
Anyone with any information about Rea is asked to call the State Police Unresolved Case Unit at 855-MA-SOLVE.
The DA’s Office thanked the State Police Unresolved Case Unit, local police, Othram, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Ann Marie Mires, RTI, NamUs and the NIJ.