A body that's been unidentified for more than 50 years will be exhumed from the Center Cemetery in Wrentham, Massachusetts, in the hopes that DNA analysis may finally offer answers about who the person was, authorities said Friday.
The skeletal remains were found by two hikers on April 20, 1974, near the Eagle Brook pumping station in Wrentham. The body, described as male, was never identified and buried in the Center Cemetery.
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Working with cemetery personnel, members of the Wrentham Historical Commission and Wrentham State Representative Marcus Vaughn, a court has approved the exhumation to try to develop a DNA profile and identify the person.
The body was originally scheduled for exhumation on Sept. 25 but the date was pushed back to Sept. 30. It will be brought to the Office of the Medical Examiner, where samples can be taken. The process will be overseen by a forensic anthropologist assigned to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), the Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services Section and troopers from the Massachusetts State Police.
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The body will be returned and reburied at the cemetery once that process is complete.
