Teen hit by train exhumed nearly 100 years later for chance to ID him

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (WKRC) - “Some Mother’s Son” is the only name on the engraved headstone of an unidentified teen buried in Georgetown, Kentucky in 1921.
He got there by riding the rails of a passenger train out of Cincinnati. Back then, people who did that were called Hobos, but clues showed the brown haired, blue-eyed teen around 17-years-old led a privileged life. Friday, March 10, his body was exhumed from the grave where he was buried after no one could identity the young man. What investigators did know was he rode the Southern Railway’s Royal Palm passenger train out of Cincinnati that traveled between Midwest cities including Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Cincinnati; ending up in Jacksonville Florida.
ox car April 1, 1921, and ran to catch a slow moving passenger train on another track. He likely didn’t even see the train that hit him.
Emily Craig is a forensic anthropologist and works special projects of NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, and said, "We don’t think he rode the rails like a hobo, he was dressed well and groomed. Not that someone like that deserves more attention, that means someone more likely is missing him.”
He wore tailored clothes, with monogrammed buttons, the clothes had a laundry mark that said “ Jones” and he had a watch with W.A. engraved on the back, and L.H.D. engraved inside the time piece.
John Goble, the Scott County Coroner, said, "His mother and father have passed away, of course, but he could have nieces, nephews and cousins; His mother and father are buried somewhere, we want to get him back to his parents.”
The FBI has agreed to pay for DNA testing. A tooth found during the exhumation of his grave will help with that. Then the profile will be entered into the DNA database to see if it links to any relatives. If not, there are other options.
Todd Matthews manages cases for NamUs, "This guy is the missing leaf on a family tree. We could approach ancestry.com, a lot of ways we can reach out on this.”
Was he a runaway headed to Florida for spring break? Or was he out for an adventure? The only thing that is certain is that he is some mother’s boy.
Coroner Goble said, "He deserves to be buried with his family.”
This case is on the NamUs website that is open to the public. Go to www.NamUs.gov.