Tucker human remains found 4 years ago positively identified as missing teen

TUCKER, Ga. - New DNA technology helped DeKalb County officials identify partially decomposed remains found nearly four years ago by a lawn maintenance crew in Tucker.

After partnering with the company Othram, which used forensic genetic genealogy to pinpoint relatives, they were able to determine the remains from October 2020 belonged to 18-year-old Josiah Campbell.

"We look at half a million markers, upwards of a million markers, of DNA," Michael Vogen with Othram said.

"If we do genealogy, like we did in this case, we essentially take DNA from skeletal remains and build it into a profile that's the equivalent of me spitting in a tube and submitting off to a consumer DNA testing company today," he added.

Campbell was last seen in September 2020. His father told FOX 5 he was an artist, game designer, hip-hop songwriter and singer. His dad said he left the house to go to a recording studio and was never seen again. His family reported him missing the next day.

Campbell's case is the 18th in the state of Georgia within the last four years that Othram has helped identify either victims or suspects. Most recently, in June, their technology helped identify Kenneth Perry as the suspect in a 1990 double homicide in Stone Mountain.

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"The truth of the matter is, if there's DNA available, and you've exhausted traditional investigative means, there's no reason why this can't be applied," Vogen said.

"No one should have to go leave this world without knowing what happened to a loved one, and so I think that's part of our bigger mission is like, let's focus on what we can right now, because there are people waiting for those answers," he added.

DeKalb County Police say Campbell's case is still under investigation. They do suspect foul play.