The Bensalem Township Police Department has closed a 20-year-old mystery in Bucks County of a body found on the banks of the Delaware River, according to CBS News Philadelphia. 

Two fishermen discovered the body in 2003.  For years, the unidentified man remained a mystery, but the autopsy revealed that the man had drowned.  

However, they were only able to get partial fingerprints, which yielded no matches in national databases. 

In December of 2022, hair samples from the autopsy were processed by the Bucks County Coroner’s Office, and were used to create a DNA profile.  

Funding from the Cold Case Initiative enabled a genetic genealogy search that led investigators to Riverside, New Jersey, and a meeting with Edward Nece, whose son, Edward Anthony Nece, had been missing for the same duration.  

On the 20th anniversary of the discovery, it was confirmed that the body was that of Nece’s son. 

Read more about the cold case surrounding Edward Anthony Nece in CBS Philadelphia.  

Police in Bucks County make breakthrough in 20-year-old cold case