This was niggling at the back of my mind last night, and my google-fu is failing me.
A few years ago (probably more than 5 years ago and less than 15 years ago), a building in Washington, DC was demolished and a skeletonized body was discovered.
It was determined that the body was that of a US servicemember who had been missing for several years (at least 20 years)–the building where he was found had been a bar at the time he disappeared and the authorities concluded he had been killed/robbed and the body was stashed in a ventilation shaft.
IIRC, there was some type of ID card/dog tags with the body and the family felt vindicated that he hadn’t gone AWOL as the military had claimed.
Anyone remember the guy’s name or have a link to articles about it?
I found one reference to it so far. There is no name but it may give enough information to find more.
“In 2002, the murdered body of an Arlington Honor Guard soldier was found in a building being demolished in Washington DC. He had been missing since 1967 and had been declared a “deserter”. After 35 years of the Army refusing the family so much as a flag or memorial marker, he was buried with full military honors.”
That was PFC Allen L. Adams. It was actually 1996 when he was found. I remember it well, as I was working in a building across the street. He had been classified as a deserter, but his record was cleared after his body was found. To my knowledge, nothing has ever been learned about the circumstances of his death.
There was an updated article in the Washington Post in May, 1999.
It gave just a little more info. Allen Adams had a temper and a history of fighting. The police suggested that he might have gotten in a fight at the pool hall, and others killed him, then hid the body on the third floor. There were no articles after that one in the Post. I’m sure there would have been if the killer(s) had been caught.