Cold case unit, chief medical examiner solve 30-year-old investigation into missing person

CONCORD — The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit, working with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, successfully closed a cold case this week, according to a news release from the state Attorney General's Office. 

In June of 1991, then-78-year-old Benjamin Adams left his residence in Canaan for a walk and did not return. His family said he had been suffering from dementia. Search efforts for Adams were unsuccessful.

Six years later, in November 1996, a hunter discovered skeletal remains in a wooded section of Hanover. A search resulted in the recovery of additional human bones. Due to the vicinity of Adams’ last known location, investigators suspected the remains might be that of Adams.

In 1997, the remains were sent to an out-of-state forensic anthropologist. The examination indicated biological characteristics not inconsistent with those of Benjamin Adams, but a positive identification could not be made.

Recently, forensic investigators with the medical examiner's office, the University of New Hampshire F.A.I.R. Lab, and the State Police Major Crime and Cold Case units reexamined the case in light of modern DNA testing technologies. During the reexamination, they connected with Adams’ son and obtained a sample of his DNA. The sample and certain skeletal remains were sent to a private contract lab for DNA comparison testing. The lab, Bode Technology, confirmed the probability of relatedness is “at least 99.999998%” and the DNA evidence is “at least 42 million times” more likely to be from “a biological parent as compared to untested and unrelated individuals.”

The medical examiners's office is working on the reunification of Adams’ remains with his family, according to a news release sent Thursday.