Authorities disclosed on Wednesday that human remains discovered nearly five decades ago close to Flagstaff, Arizona, have been identified as belonging to a man who served in Vietnam and originally hailed from Minnesota.
According to a news release from the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, the remains were positively identified as those of Gerald Francis Long. Long's cause of death could not be ascertained in 1975 and remains undetermined to this day.
The skeletal remains were initially found on April 19, 1975, off Meteor City Road, approximately 40 miles east of Flagstaff, when farmers were in pursuit of a runaway pig, officials reported.
Despite the development of numerous leads since the discovery, none of them led to a positive identification.
However, in August 2023, the CCSO collaborated with a company in Salt Lake City, Utah, to identify the remains using a genetic genealogy process. Utilizing the company's technology, a DNA profile was developed, enabling experts to trace a family line.
This eventually led them to consider the possibility that the remains belonged to Long.
Subsequently, CCSO detectives contacted a living family member of Long's, who confirmed that Long had enlisted in the Army in 1969 and was deployed to Vietnam that same year.
Long returned to Minnesota in February 1972 and was discharged one month later, officials said in the release.
Officials compared partial fingerprints collected from the remains in 1975 with other existing fingerprints on record for Long, which resulted in a positive match.
A family DNA sample from this month confirmed that the remains belonged to Long.
Long's family last saw or heard from him in October 1972 when he informed them that he was leaving Minnesota for the West Coast, the release stated.
The family has requested privacy, according to the sheriff's office.