Mystery body identified after 25 years

October 08, 2012

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s office says it’s identified the remains of a man buried in a Tempe cemetery 25 years ago.Officials say he’s 16-year-old John Bryan Moore, from Riverside, Calif. In June 1987, two men were driving across Arizona on their way to California when the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed. Moore, who was driving, had hitched a ride and was killed in the accident. The Arizona Department of Public Safety says the unknown man was buried at Tempe Buttes Cemetery.

Last year, officials exhumed the body and conducted complete digital dental radiographs and an anthropology examination. The tests were done as part of a grant from the National Institute of Justice, which allowed officials to compile John Doe cases from 1970 through the present to determine what follow-up needed to be completed. This case was in the first group reviewed.