Human remains discovered 49 years ago near Flagstaff, Arizona, have been identified as those of a man who served in Vietnam and was originally from Minnesota, authorities said Wednesday.
The Coconino County Sheriffās Office announced in a news release that the remains were those of Gerald Francis Long. Longās cause of death was not determined in 1975 and cannot be determined today, according to the release.
The skeletal remains, first discovered April 19, 1975, were found off Meteor City Road, about 40 miles east of Flagstaff, when farmers were chasing a runaway pig, officials said.
Multiple leads were developed since the remains were found, the sheriffās office said, but none of them led to a positive identification.
In August, the sheriffās office worked with a Salt Lake City company to identify the remains through a genetic genealogy process, the release said. Using the companyās technology, a DNA profile was developed for the remains, allowing experts to trace a family line. That led them in February to the possibility that the remains were Longās.
From there, sheriffās detectives contacted a living family member of Longās, who told them that Long 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.
The sheriffās office said officials then used partial fingerprints collected from the remains in 1975 and matched them with other existing fingerprints on record for Long, which produced a positive match. A family DNA sample this month confirmed the remains were those of Long.
In October 1972, Long told his family he was leaving Minnesota for the West Coast, the release said. That was the last time Longās family had seen or heard from him.
The sheriffās office said his family has requested privacy.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com