JACKSON COUNTY, Indiana — Authorities believe a teenage boy missing since he went camping with his friends in 1971 has been found.
The three friends were students at Brownstown Indiana High School; 19-year-old Jerry Autry, 17-year-old Stanley Robison and 16-year-old Mike Sewell.
All three spent the night in a cabin that caught fire killing Autry and Robison, but Sewell's remains were never found.
In 2022, a Jackson County detective decided to re-open the case and restart the search for the missing Brownstown teenager.
Friday, the detective said he found Sewell's remains, and his family is finally getting answers more than 50 years later.
After searching for years, Lt. Adam Nicholson said he was with them all along.
It's the answer the family never thought they would live to see.
"I didn't think I would ever know till I died, what happened to my brother," Sewell's sister Linda Pack said.
Nicholson teamed up with archeologists from the University of Indianapolis to look into Sewell's disappearance.
"It just didn't seem possible for a 16 year old to just run away and still be missing after 50 something years," he said.
Nicholson said after removing and analyzing the remains, experts said they identified three people in Autry's and Robison's caskets.
Archeologists then tested the bones for DNA; one was a match for Robison.
Though the tests haven't come back yet, Pack is sure the third body is her older brother.
"If I never get DNA, I'm happy with what I can get. I mean, it would be nice if we did sometime, but haven't given up on that. But I'm happy with the way it's turned out," she said.
Nicholson said they are waiting on new technology to test for more DNA.
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