Human remains discovered in New York almost 35 years ago have been identified as those of a man who vanished in the 1970s.
The bones were found on Sept. 14, 1991, after a swamp off Woods Road in the Town of Greenville in Orange County, New York, was drained, according to a news release from New York State Police (NYSP).
At the site, investigators recovered a skull along with additional skeletal remains clustered within a seven-foot radius, with some bones buried under about a foot of soil.
The person was found with several personal items, but “due to the passage of time and exposure to the elements of being underwater for years,” those belongings did not provide any useful clues about the individual’s identity, police said.
A “thorough and exhaustive investigation” followed over the next several years, but authorities were unable to determine who the remains belonged to.
In 2024, NYSP submitted skeletal remains from the case to Othram, a forensic laboratory that specializes in identifying people from degraded or limited DNA samples, according to a news release from the company.
Othram created a comprehensive DNA profile and returned it to law enforcement, which then used the profile to conduct a forensic genetic genealogy search.
That same year, items recovered from the scene were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Questioned Documents Unit in Quantico, Va. Their analysis suggested that the victim may have lived in the City of Port Jervis, New York.
The Port Jervis Police Department later found a hard-copy blotter entry dated Oct. 1, 1976, documenting a missing person report for 76-year-old Mikolai Celesz, who had disappeared that year.
In 2025, investigators carried out extensive historical research and intelligence gathering on Celesz and obtained DNA samples from several of his relatives. After analysis, NYSP announced that the remains had been conclusively identified as those of the missing man.
According to Othram, the circumstances of Celesz’s disappearance are still under investigation. His identification marks the 17th case in New York in which officials have publicly identified a person using technology developed by Othram.
“The New York State Police is grateful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and the City of Port Jervis Police Department for their invaluable assistance,” state police said in the news release. “Their partnership and dedication helped bring long-awaited answers to Mikolai’s family—more than forty-eight years after he disappeared.”
Anyone with information about Celesz’s disappearance is asked to contact NYSP Troop F Communications at (845) 344-5300 and reference case number 3021756.
