DNA evidence and genealogical data have finally led investigators to positively identify a skeleton found off the interstate near Fairhaven as a Rhode Island man who went missing in 1981, the Bristol County DA’s Office announced.

“After connecting this individual to a family tree, investigators were able to positively identify the recovered remains as Keith Olson of Cranston, RI,” the DA’s Office stated. “Mr. Olson was last seen in April of 1981 and had been reported missing from Cranston.”

The identification comes nearly 40 years after Olson’s remains were found on April 8, 1985. That day, a driver traveling on Interstate 195 stopped in the breakdown lane in Fairhaven, just over the Mattapoisett border.

In the brush about 45 feet from the roadway, the release states, the driver spotted a human skeleton.

Police were notified and searched the area, the DA continued, finding no information on the identity of the body.

The FBI judged that the victim was a 5’9″ Caucasian male killed within a few years of the discovery, the DA’s office said. His shoes were made in 1981. There was evidence of trauma to the body, leading investigators to rule the case a homicide.

Through the years, investigators unsuccessfully used dental record to compare to other missing person cases, made a facial reconstruction based on the man’s skull and broadcast information through the media.

Investigators finally made the breakthrough as a part of the Bristol DA’s Unidentified Bodies Project, an initiative to use new technology to identify all bodies or skeletal remains found in the last 40 years. The project cracked the 17-year-old case of a body found in a Fall River landfill in fall 2022.

Through the initiative, investigators partnered with the Othram private laboratory in Texas and the FBI to form a genetic profile of the man, use forensic genetic genealogy to compare the profile to thousands of people and develop a family tree, the release said.

These efforts narrowed in on Keith Olson.

Olson was reported missing from his home in Cranston, Rhode Island, last seen in April 1981. A Rhode Island native, he was 27 years old at the time of his disappearance.

Olson had been dating a woman at the time, stirring friction with her ex North Providence resident John Broccoli.

Broccoli, also known as “Michael Corleone,” made “cryptic statements” to the woman on the day of Olson’s disappearance. These statements “suggested Broccoli’s possible involvement,” the DA release said. Broccoli died in 2019 at the age of 63.

A witness to Olson’s disappearance previously described two men escorting the victim from his apartment.

The DA’s Office noted investigators are seeking any information related to Olson’s disappearance and murder.

“Police have strong reason to believe that the crime was committed by at least two people and believe that there are individuals who could provide helpful information to solve this crime,” the DA’s release said, calling for anyone with information to contact Massachusetts State Police.

Cold cases like Olson’s have shown there is “much work to be done coordinating cases of Missing Persons and Unidentified Bodies between counties and even states,” the DA stated.

Anyone with a missing relative is encouraged to contact State Police Det. Lt. Ann Marie Robertson and provide a DNA sample to the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, which can be used for DNA comparisons nationwide.

“With the advances in technology and cooperation of many agencies across the country, it is our hope that these efforts will help identify previously unidentified human remains and provide answers in missing person cases,” the release said.

Keith Olson, who was identified as a body found in 1985, was 27 years old and living in Cranston, Rhode Island at the time of his disappearance in 1981. (Photo courtesy of Bristol County District Attorney’s Office)