In a breakthrough development, authorities have identified the headless and handless body of a man discovered 56 years ago beside a desolate road in Allegany County, New York. This identification was made possible through recent advancements in DNA technology, officials announced this week.
Despite this significant progress, the individual responsible for his death remains at large.
The body has now been identified as Clyde A. Coppage, who was 35 years old when he was found near a road in Andover, a rural area of upstate New York, back in March 1970.
Remarkably, Coppage’s identity remained a mystery for over half a century.
“For nearly 56 years, members of the New York State Police diligently pursued every potential lead, yet the man’s identity eluded them,” stated a news release from the New York State Police on Thursday.
Originally hailing from Pennsylvania, Coppage was never officially reported missing.
He didn’t have any clothes on or any other way to identify him, Trooper James O’Callaghan said Friday, according to the Albany Times Union.
The road in Andover, N.Y., where Clyde Coppage’s body was found. (New York State Police)
O’Callaghan said the evidence suggested Coppage was killed and dismembered somewhere else before his body was left on the rural Davis Hill Road in Andover.
In June 2022, his body was exhumed for a DNA profile, and, with the help of the FBI, he was finally identified.
New York State Police Troop A headquarters in upstate New York. (Google Maps)
State police said the Bureau of Criminal Investigation out of NYSP Amity is asking for the public’s help for any information about Coppage or his killer.
The investigation into his death remains active, police said.
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