Human remains found off I-95 in Mass. over 30 years ago identified; DA asks public for info

After remaining a mystery for over 30 years, investigators have finally identified the skeletal remains of a male teen that were found on the side of a highway in Newburyport in 1992, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.

Thanks to a new DNA analysis, the remains have been identified as Anthony Angelli Rea, who was born in 1973 and raised in Malden, the district attorney’s office said in a press release. He was reported missing from the Harbor School — a now-defunct therapeutic boarding school in Newbury — in August 1988.

Angelli Rea’s remains were found partially buried in a section of marsh grass off I-95 south on Nov. 28, 1992, the district attorney’s office said. An autopsy indicated the skeleton belonged to a male teen but did not determine his cause of death.

Despite following many promising leads over the course of the next 32 years, Newburyport police and the district attorney’s office failed to identify the remains until recently, the district attorney’s office said. What finally led to a break in the case was enlisting the help of Othram — a private forensic lab located in Texas.

Othram scientists developed a DNA extract from the remains and used DNA sequencing to create a comprehensive DNA profile, the district attorney’s office said. The company’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team then utilized the profile in a genealogical search to find new investigative leads.

Investigators eventually determined that the remains belonged to Angelli Rea after the leads connected the skeleton to the missing teen’s biological relatives, the district attorney’s office said.

Investigators ask that anyone with information about Anthony Angelli Rea call the Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Case Unit at 855-MA-SOLVE.