LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Michigan State Police say a man who died along an Arkansas highway in 1989 has been identified as a long-missing Battle Creek man.
Charles Cornell was 30 when he was last seen by relatives in 1986. They filed a police report this year after State Police suggested they do so.
Cornell’s mother and sister then submitted their DNA, which was entered in a national database of unidentified remains.
Their DNA determined that a man fatally struck by a semi-truck in Arkansas in 1989 was Cornell. They learned of the match Tuesday.
Photos, medical and dental records and fingerprints remained on file in Arkansas, but the cases weren’t linked until Cornell’s relatives submitted DNA.
Detective-Sgt. Sarah Krebs says it’s important for families of missing people to get their DNA on file.
