A Buckeye teenage boy’s remains, found in the White Tank Mountains 44 years ago, have finally been identified.
Investigative genetic genealogists with the DNA Doe Project identified the skeletal remains belonging to Mitchell John Pauli, the organizationannounced on Oct. 6.
Pauli was 14 years old when he was believed to have disappeared in the late 1970s.
In April 1982, Air Force personnel were searching for a fallen gun pod in a remote area of the regional park when they discovered a skull and some vertebrae belonging to a child, the announcement said. No clothing or personal items were found at the time.
Forensic analysis showed the remains belonged to a boy between 13 and 19 years old who had died one to three years prior, the organization said.
With no way at the time to formally identify him, he received the nickname of "John Maricopa County Doe."
The case was brought to the DNA Doe Project by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office for research and funded by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The project team began working on the case in May 2026 and found ties to Missouri and Kentucky, the announcement read.
The research team found connections to families in St. Louis and just seven days later made a "significant discovery,” according to the non-profit.
“We came across a boy who was born in St. Louis in 1964, but we couldn’t find any proof of life for him,” said team leader Megan Pasika. “The crucial breakthrough came when we found that his family had relocated in 1967 to Buckeye, Arizona, where they lived just five miles from where our John Doe was found.”
The boy's name was Mitchell Pauli, and the team "found numerous connections between his ancestors and the DNA matches John Maricopa County Doe," the announcement said.
Further DNA testing later confirmed that the child found in 1982 was, in fact, Pauli, the non-profit said.
It was not known if any of his family members were still living or how Pauli died.
Have a news tip? Contact The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com at newstips@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Human remains of missing Buckeye boy identified 44 years later
