LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — A body from a 1998 cold case, found in the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania, has been identified with the help of advancements in DNA, officials announced.

In a news release, the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office announced the identity of the body that was pulled from the Susquehanna River in 1998 is 39-year-old James Gibson from Harrisburg, who was reported missing by his family that year.

Gibson’s cause of death was determined to be freshwater drowning, but the manner is undetermined, the coroner’s office said.

It was after 12 p.m. on April 18 when a fisherman found the body of a man in the Turkey Point area of the Susquehanna in Manor Township and the coroner’s office along with township police responded to the scene.

Because of time and environmental factors, the coroner’s office said the body underwent “significant postmortem” changes to the point that the man could not be recognized at the time.

Eventually, a profile was created after dental exams and radiology studies but the case went cold because there were no leads on his identity at the time. Police submitted two releases years after, hoping that someone would be able to ID the man.

The cold case was reopened in 2017, and with the help of the FBI, as well as technological advancements over the next couple of years, investigators were able to create genetic profiles of unidentified descendants, the release said.

With the help of the DNA Doe Project, investigators learned about Gibson who had gone missing from Harrisburg in 1998.

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Dental and genetic test results that investigators got back by May showed that the man pulled from the river matched Gibson’s description.

DNA Doe Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping identify descendants using forensic genealogy.

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