North Shore Skeletal Remains ID'd 33 Years Later As Local Teen

NEWBURYPORT, MA — Thirty-three years after the body of a teen boy was found along Route 95 South in Newburyport, the remains of the student reported missing four years before that were positively identified on Thursday, according to the Essex County District Attorney's Office.

The Essex District Attorney’s Office, with the assistance of Othram, a private forensic laboratory in Woodlands, Texas, identified the remains as those of Anthony Angelli Rea.

Rea's body was found on Nov. 28, 1992, partially buried in the marsh grass on the side of the highway. No cause of death was determined in the autopsy but the remains were determined to be those of a teen boy.

Although investigators developed significant leads, due to the limitations in DNA identification,
they were unable to make a positive identification until this week.

Rea was born in 1973 and lived part of his childhood in Malden with his mother. He was reported missing from the Harbor School in Newbury in August 1988.

Funding for Othram's casework costs associated with the advanced DNA testing in this case was provided by NamUs, a national program that assists the criminal justice community with the investigation and resolution of missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases across the United States and its territories.

NamUs is funded and administered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and is managed through a contract with Research Triangle Institute International (RTI).

Anyone with any information about Anthony Angelli Rea is asked to call the State Police Unresolved Case Unit at 855-MA-SOLVE.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)