Remains found in Utah desert over 40 years ago positively identified as missing teen
03/20/2025 2:37 pm PDT
PROVO, Utah (TCN) -- Investigators closed a cold case this week after they positively identified the remains of a John Doe found in the desert 42 years ago.
According to the Provo Police Department, 17-year-old Robby Peay ran away from a youth treatment center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7, 1982. He was reported missing to the Provo Police Department and listed in national databases after he failed to return.
About four months later, in February 1983, a body was found in Arches National Park in Moab with a gunshot wound to the head. Police said the victim "appeared to have similar characteristics to Peay," but officials could not positively identify the remains due to the amount of decomposition. He became listed as a John Doe.
Several months later, officials discovered Peay’s truck in Lake Powell, 350 miles from Moab. Police did not have any additional leads at the time, so the case went cold. His family filed for him to be declared legally dead in 1990, and they placed a gravestone for him in Provo Cemetery.
Peay’s disappearance remained a cold case until 2018 when a Provo Police detective entered the teen’s information into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). A forensic dentist reportedly noted that Peay’s X-ray data had the incorrect number. When fixed, the data "resulted in a high percentage match with the John Doe" found in Arches in 1983. However, the Office of the Medical Examiner required DNA for a positive identification.
Investigators learned Peay had been adopted at birth, so they worked to unseal court paperwork regarding his adoption. He did not have any living direct biological family members, but genealogical testing led detectives to an uncle. He provided detectives with the "much-needed DNA sample for comparison testing."
Provo Police detectives filed to exhume the remains found in Arches. Around the same time, NamUs reportedly learned another agency had the John Doe’s DNA on file, and after comparison, it came back as a match to Peay.
Detective Sergeant Nick Patterson said in the statement, "Working cold cases as a detective is both challenging and time-consuming. 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."
MORE:
