The skeletal remains found in a remote wash near Ryan Airfield in 1988 have been identified as those of 17-year-old Rogelio Morales Caudillo.
Caudillo disappeared from Tucson in 1986, according to a news release from the DNA Doe Project, the nonprofit that helped to identify him.
On April 5, 1988, the partial remains were found in an area south of Valencia Road, near Ryan Airfield.
The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner tapped the DNA Doe Project to help figure out who the remains belonged to, the news release said.
Project members generated a DNA profile. Once they determined the unidentified male was of Mexican descent, with roots specifically in Sonora, Mexico, they were able to find a family, and descendants who had moved from Sonora to Arizona.
Project members focused on the branches that ended up in Tucson, the news release said.
The team worked on the case for five months, constructing a family tree using Mexican birth records and American obituaries, the news release said.
They narrowed in on a particular branch of the family and made contact with a possible relative. The relative didn't know any missing family members, but discovered by asking family members, that her cousin, Rogelio Morales Caudillo, disappeared in 1986, the news release said.
The Project presented the evidence to the Medical Examiner as a possible match. Further DNA testing facilitated by the Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed the remains found were Cuadillo's.
