On May 22, 1975, authorities were notified that the body of an unidentified homicide victim had been discovered buried in a shallow grave in Burlington.
Though 50 years have passed since an investigation into the man’s death was first opened, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office still hopes the public can help identify the body and close this cold case for good.
What investigators already knew about the victim
The victim’s body was found in a wooded area near Muller Road in Burlington, the district attorney’s office said in a Thursday press release. He had fatal head wounds, and the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide.
Investigators estimated that the man was in his late twenties or early thirties when he died, the district attorney’s office said. His height was determined to be between 5-foot-10 inches and six feet.
The man is also believed to have had long, dark hair and a beard, the district attorney’s office said. He was found wearing a t-shirt, jeans, canvas sneakers, an army fatigue-style jacket and a garrison-type belt with a unique buckle.
Investigators recovered a pair of glasses and a glasses case from the grave, and thus believe the victim wore glasses, the district attorney’s office said. He was also found wearing a necklace with a distinctive medallion depicting faces.
An as-yet unidentified homicide victim who was discovered buried in a shallow grave in Burlington, Massachusetts, on May 22, 1975, was found wearing this distinctive medallion.Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office
What investigators recently discovered about the victim
Investigators pursued multiple leads over the course of 45 years, but never managed to solve the case, the district attorney’s office said. Then, in 2023, the office’s Cold Case Unit obtained a search warrant authorizing the exhumation of the victim’s remains, which had been laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Burlington.
The exhumation allowed forensic scientists from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory to collect a DNA sample from the victim’s bones and teeth, the district attorney’s office said. Investigators then asked genealogists from a Texas-based forensic genetic genealogy firm to analyze the DNA.
The genealogists determined that the victim was likely of Southern European descent, the district attorney’s office said. The analysis of his DNA indicates that the majority of his ancestors likely hailed from modern-day Italy, Spain, Greece or nearby countries.
“I am grateful for the collaborative effort of the agencies involved in their continuing investigation of this case and their ongoing commitment to bringing answers to families,” Burlington Police Chief Thomas Browne said in the release. “It is my hope that this new information will get people to take another close look at this case and call authorities with any information that might help us to identify this individual.”
How investigators hope to identify the victim
Burlington police and the district attorney’s office are calling on New England families — especially those of Italian, Spanish or Greek heritage — who lost touch with a younger male relative in the early 1970s to call investigators at 781-897-6600 or email them at MiddlesexColdCaseTips@mass.gov.
“Thousands of families across our country have lost loved ones to murder. The bodies of many of these victims have never been recovered and given a proper burial. Others have been recovered, but never identified and are buried in unmarked graves,” Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said in the release. “This office is committed to identifying all victims of homicide and giving their grieving families closure.”
