Boater finds jawbone belonging to 22-year-old who went missing in 2020, NY cops say

More than a month after a boater found a human jawbone in a river, police in central New York said it belongs to a 22-year-old who went missing in 2020.

Laboratory DNA testing has linked the bone to Matthew Barber who had not been seen since November 2020, according to the Elmira Police Department.

Authorities are continuing their investigation into Barber’s disappearance after the bone was found in the Chemung River, which runs through New York and northern Pennsylvania, the department said in a June 28 news release.

Police said no other skeletal remains were found when the boater discovered the bone on May 11, according to an earlier news release.

Barber, who was described as disabled, was believed to have been traveling to Pennsylvania around the time he went missing, the Elmira Star-Gazette reported.

Now authorities are calling on the public to contact Elmira police at 607-737-5626 if they have any information related to Barber’s disappearance.

Chemung is roughly 180 miles southwest of Albany.

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