and then came this discovery in a hiking trail not far from the high school where russell was last seen alive. >> that he could be there and nobody would notice it for so long, we all were in shock over that. >> the coroner determined the victim was a teenaged boy who died in the early '80s. detectives started combing through cold cases, and the name russell jordan emerged from a yellowing police file. the buckle, belt, and boots were identical to the ones described by the jordans in russell's original missing persons report. the parents sent police a copy of russell's dental record to make a final positive identification. >> so it didn't take very long to figure out that this must be russell jordan? >> well, it sure looked very promising that it was. >> but the remains were so old, the medical examiner was unable to recover any soft tissue for a