Cops Identify Man Found Dead in 1970—Without His Head

More than five decades after a man's mutilated body turned up on a rural New York roadside, investigators finally know his name. New York State Police say DNA testing has identified the victim as 35-year-old Clyde A. Coppage, who was living in Genesee, Pennsylvania, when he disappeared in 1970, per People. His head and hands were missing when his body was discovered along Davis Hill Road in the town of Andover on March 20 of that year, reports the Times Union. Police say he was never reported missing.

The breakthrough came after Coppage's remains were exhumed in June 2022. Working with the FBI, investigators used modern DNA analysis to match the remains to Coppage. Authorities have not disclosed a cause of death but reportedly believe Coppage was killed and dismembered in another location, per the New York Post. The Times Union notes that in homicide cases, perpetrators sometimes remove heads and hands to impede identification, a tactic now often overcome by advances in genetic technology. State Police are asking for the public's help to fill in the gaps of Coppage's life and what may have led to his death. Anyone with information is urged to call New York State Police at 585-344-6200.