Driver saw skeletal remains near highway almost 40 years ago. Now police seek killer
A driver going down a Massachusetts highway spotted human remains in roadside brush nearly 40 years ago — and now a search is on for the now-identified man’s killer, officials say.
After making the jarring discovery in April 1985, the concerned driver immediately contacted authorities, who conducted a “thorough” search of the scene off I-195 in Fairhaven, according to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.
But dental records and facial reconstructions were unsuccessful in identifying the victim at the time of the discovery. Evidence at the scene, including a pair of sneakers manufactured in 1981, and the remains only initially revealed that the victim was a male who had been murdered several years before, officials said.
The case went cold for nearly 40 years until the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office and state police partnered with Othram, a private laboratory located in Texas, and the FBI’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Team to help identify the remains.
Using forensic genetic genealogy, which compares unknown DNA to thousands of known DNA to build a family tree, the remains were positively identified as 27-year-old Keith Olson of Cranston, Rhode Island.
Olson was last seen on April 15, 1981, according to officials.
Olson was dating a woman at the time of his disappearance, officials say.
According to investigators, tensions with a man who previously dated the same woman may have contributed to Olson’s disappearance. McClatchy News is not naming the man because he never was charged in the case.
Investigators also note that man, who died in 2019, made “cryptic” statements to the woman the same day of Olson’s disappearance.
One of the last people to see Olson alive told officials he was escorted from his apartment by two men.
Investigators are now seeking any information from the public that could help identify Olson’s killers.
Fairhaven, about 50 miles south of Boston, is 35 miles southeast of Olson’s hometown of Cranston.
This story was originally published November 29, 2023 at 9:46 AM with the headline "Driver saw skeletal remains near highway almost 40 years ago. Now police seek killer."
