Skeletal remains found in 1992 identified as Newburyport man

Skeletal remains from 1992 were identified more than 30 years later on Thursday as a Newburyport man, the Essex District Attorney’s Office said.

Anthony Angelli Rea was a teenager reported missing from Newbury Harbor School in August 1988, officials said. His remains were found half-buried in the grass near Route 95 South in Newburyport in November 1992.

At the time, no cause of death was declared from the autopsy, except that the victim was a teenage male, the DA said.

State and Newburyport police sought to identify the victim, but were unsuccessful for 32 years on account of “limitations in DNA identification,” according to a press release.

The DA announced Thursday afternoon that they successfully identified the man as Rea with assistance from Othram, a private forensic laboratory in Texas.

Rea was born in 1973, officials said, and lived with his mother in Malden for a portion of his childhood.

Rea was identified after Othram scientists used

Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing

to create an extensive DNA profile from DNA extracted from Rea’s remains, the DA said.

Further Othram technology used Rea’s DNA profile to inspire new leads in the case, including pinpointing potential relatives.

Funding for Othram’s service related to DNA testing was given by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, a resource center funded by the National Institute of Justice focused on supporting missing and unidentified person cases, the release said.

Anyone with information about Anthony Angelli Rea is requested to call the State Police Unresolved Case Unit at 855-MA-SOLVE.