Missing Harrison County Man Identified 43 Years Later

A Harrison County man who went missing 43 years ago has been positively identified today.
Harrison County Sheriff’s investigators confirm Joseph Spears, who ran away from the Harrison County Youth Detention Center in 1973, is the John Doe found buried in a Galveston, Texas cemetery.
Texas officials exhumed the body to perform DNA testing back in February, after a cemetery worker reached out to Harrison County investigators, but were unable to retrieve proper DNA to confirm the identity.
Harrison County investigators confirm it was Spears’ mother who identified her son through pictures.
Harrison County cold case investigators were also able to provide all the facts they had on the case to compare with the evidence from Texas authorities.