Body of Missing Utah Teen Robby Lynn Peay Identified After 42 Years

A decades-old mystery surrounding a missing Utah teen has been solved.

Utah police have identified the remains of a boy found in Arches National Park near Moab in 1983 as Robby Lynn Peay, 17, who vanished after running away from a youth treatment center in 1982. While the discovery closes a 41-year-old cold case, a homicide investigation is ongoing with Grand County detectives, according to Salt Lake City outlet Fox 13.

Robby, a resident of Provo, had run away from a Salt Lake City young treatment center in October 1982 and a missing person case was then opened, the Provo Police Department said in a March 19 statement on Instagram. In February 1983, an unidentified body was recovered from the Three Gossips area within Arches National Park in Grand County, Utah, authorities said.

“The body had a gunshot wound to the head and appeared to have similar characteristics to Peay,” the police said in their statement. “However, identification could not be confirmed due to decomposition of the remains.”