A little boy, a sad 41-year mystery — and E. Oregon ties

Investigators with the Greece, N.Y, Police Department and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are seeking the public’s help to identify a little boy whose body was found there in 1976 but apparently lived in the Northwest earlier in his life.

On March 9 , 1976, the skeletal remains of a young child were found inside a blue metal storage trunk in the basement of an apartment complex in Greece, NY. Greece is a neighborhood just outside of Rochester, NY.

As part of its ongoing search, law enforcement and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children facilitated isotope testing on the child’s remains, which indicate that he may not have been local to the New York area, having likely spent the first years of his life in the U.S. Northwest (blue on the map) and the last years of his life in the U.S. Southeast (red).

Greece PD worked with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to have the child’s DNA tested, confirming the child is male.

He had brown hair and was found wearing a light blue pajama top with a deer design on the left chest area. He was also wearing a plastic diaper that was fastened with two stainless steel diaper pins.

He also had a prominent bulge to the back left region of his skull creating a large skull abnormality. While it’s not clear what caused it, NCMEC said “it likely meant the child could not walk and had developmental deficiencies.”

NCMEC also released a facial reconstruction showing how the child may have looked in life. A video on the case has been released and is available to view here.

Anyone with tips that could help solve the case is asked to call NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).