Illinois man identified nearly 50 years after deadly crash on Virginia highway

CHICAGO - An Illinois man who was killed in a 1977 crash along Interstate 95 in Virginia has been identified nearly 50 years later through DNA testing and genealogy research.

What we know:

Peter Adams, 20, was struck and killed by a truck around 2 a.m. on March 23, 1977, near Ashland, Virginia.

At the time, he could not be identified, even though authorities said he had a recognizable face. He was described as a white man between 20 and 25 years old, wearing blue jeans, a western-style shirt and a jean jacket.

Peter Adams | DNA Doe Project

Adams was a native of Illinois and had attended high school in the Chicago suburbs in the early 1970s. He was living in Pennsylvania when he disappeared on March 17, 1977, six days before the crash that killed him, hundreds of miles from where he had been living.

Dig deeper:

The Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later partnered with the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit group that uses volunteer investigative genetic genealogists to identify unidentified people.

Researchers quickly determined the unidentified man had deep family roots in Peoria County, Illinois, along with recent Polish heritage.

"The family tree in this case was complex," team co-leader Eryk Jan Grzeszkowiak said in a statement. "In addition to dealing with pedigree collapse, we ended up needing to build family trees back to Poland, Germany and Switzerland amongst others."

After just over a week of research, the team identified a couple whose family’s DNA closely matched that of Adams. Of the couple's six children, the oldest, who was Adams, appeared to have "dropped off the radar" in the 1970s, the team said.

The medical examiner’s office followed up on the lead and confirmed Adams had been reported missing days before the crash. Additional DNA testing, arranged by the Virginia State Police, confirmed the match.

What we don't know:

It remains unclear why Adams was in Virginia at the time of his death or what led him to be on the interstate that morning.

What's next:

Officials said the identification brings long-awaited answers to Adams’ family.

"We are honored that the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner came to the DNA Doe Project to help uncover Peter’s identity," team leader Traci Onders said in a statement. "While this case was not without its challenges, we were able to resolve a mystery that’s lasted nearly half a century in a matter of days thanks to the hard work and expertise of our team."