The cold case of a Provo boy who disappeared in 1982 has been solved after nearly 43 years without answers.

The Provo Police Department announced Wednesday night a John Doe buried in an unmarked grave in Moab was identified as Robby Peay, a 17-year-old boy who ran away from a Salt Lake City youth treatment center on Oct. 7, 1982, and never returned.

The findings came after a lengthy investigation that relied upon dental records, DNA testing and help from the the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs.

“Robby Peay had been missing for over 40 years when the breakthrough finally came through dental records and DNA testing,” read a statement attributed to Detective Sgt. Nick Patterson. “With this crucial evidence, we were able to identify an unknown individual, bringing long-awaited answers to a family that had spent decades in uncertainty. Moments like these are among the most rewarding aspects of the job.”

According to Provo police, an unidentified body was recovered from Arches National Park in February 1983 and had a gunshot wound to the head and physical characteristics resembling Peay.

However, identification could not be confirmed due to the decomposition of the remains, and Peay’s dental records were declared similar to the John Doe’s but not a match. Peay’s truck was found abandoned at Lake Powell months later, and with no other leads, the case went cold.

Peay’s family had him declared legally deceased in 1990, and a gravestone was placed in the Provo Cemetery.

The breakthrough, police said, came in 2018 when a Provo detective put Peay’s information into NamUs. A forensic dentist reviewing the system found an error with Peay’s dental records, as the X-ray data was entered using incorrect number order. The corrected images resulted in a more than 90% match to Peay, and the investigation was back on.

But further roadblocks were soon presented.

“Detectives worked with the Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) to compare Peay’s original dental records with the records from John Doe in Grand County,” Provo police said. “At this point it was discovered that only charts were on file — there were no dental images found. Odontologists with the OME also stated that because the dental records on file for Peay were X-rays from his youth, they could not be used for any form of comparison.”

As a result, a DNA comparison was required to solidify the identification, but OME had no DNA left from the original autopsy, according to police. After learning Peay was adopted at birth, a process of unsealing court adoption records commenced, with a judge approving their release in 2022.

The records revealed no surviving direct biological family members, but detectives obtained swabs for DNA testing from a maternal uncle and sent them to NamUs.

Detectives then began the process of requesting exhumation of Grand County’s John Doe to obtain a DNA sample. During the process, NamUs funded testing of the uncle’s DNA and compared it to a DNA sample on file that Provo detectives did not know existed, then notified Provo police of their findings.

“When NamUs notified Provo detectives of the DNA match and forwarded their documentation, it was found that many years prior, Summit County investigators had obtained a DNA sample from Grand County’s John Doe, to compare to a death they were investigating,” Provo police said. “Summit County Detectives had sent that DNA to NamUs, and it was ultimately forgotten about until the match.”

The DNA match confirmed the John Doe’s remains were Peay, and the Office of Medical Examiner accepted and confirmed the findings.

“Working cold cases as a detective is both challenging and time-consuming,” Patterson said. “Sifting through old files and photos, trying to reconstruct the past, can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. But the moment you uncover that long-awaited lead — the one that has eluded investigators for years — makes all the effort worthwhile.”

Detectives are not aware of any family plans to relocate Peay’s remains to his gravesite in Provo, police said. Provo police’s file information on the case was disseminated to Grand County detectives, who have jurisdiction for the investigation of the homicide of Peay.