# @downinnadesert on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DeP6aUsEjZ4
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/71448706-downinnadesert-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a600bbd1e4.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-10-08T21:35:32.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Down In The Desert🌵 (@downinnadesert) — https://gondola.cc/downinnadesert

## Caption

A teenager whose remains were found in Arizona’s White Tank Mountains in 1982 has been identified more than four decades later.

The DNA Doe Project announced Tuesday that “John Maricopa County Doe” was Mitchell John Pauli, a St. Louis native who was last known to be living in Buckeye. He was believed to be around 14 years old when he disappeared in the late 1970s.

Air Force personnel searching for a fallen gun pod found his remains on April 22, 1982, in a remote part of White Tank Mountain Regional Park. Authorities could only estimate that he had died one to three years earlier, and no clothing or personal items were found.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office brought the case to the DNA Doe Project in May 2026, with funding from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The nonprofit’s volunteer genetic genealogists traced his roots to Germany, with ties to Missouri and Kentucky, and narrowed their search to St. Louis. Team leader Megan Pasika said they found a boy born there in 1964 with no proof of life, then learned his family moved to Buckeye in 1967, about five miles from where the remains were found. Further DNA testing confirmed the match.

The announcement did not address how he died. Arizona ranks among the top five states for the number of unidentified people.

Source: AZFamily, DNA Doe Project

#Arizona #Buckeye #WhiteTankMountains #ColdCase #DNADoeProject

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 972
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## Tags

dnadoeproject, buckeye, whitetankmountains, arizona, coldcase

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