WILLISTON, N.D. (AP) - The body of an unidentified person who was buried in Williams County 38 years ago is being exhumed in hopes of bringing closure to family that may still be living.
The body of a male was found in the Missouri River near the mouth of the Little Muddy River east of Willison on June 22, 1982. Sheriff’s officials say that despite a thorough investigation at the time, he was not identified and was buried in an unmarked grave in Riverview Cemetery in Williston.
The Sheriff’s Office, City of Williston and the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation will exhume the body Monday in a new attempt to identify the deceased.
Pathologist Frank McCoy and William Kemp, an anthropologist from the University of North Dakota, will perform an autopsy and extract DNA samples which will be sent to Othram Labs in Texas for analysis and to a national database.
Genealogical studies to link the body to family members will also be done, sheriff’s officials said.
The Williams County Sheriff’s Office asked for help from the public six weeks ago in making identification, but no successful leads surfaced.
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