The mystery of a missing teenager which has lasted more than a decade has finally been solved following a DNA breakthrough.
The disappearances of young children and teenagers is sadly a common sight across the world, with families and police always hoping that it will have a happy ending with them returned home safely.
Although it can depend on the circumstances, police might only dedicate around a week to finding someone alive, before switching their focus to finding a body, apart from in cases which attract huge media attention, such as the one involving missing British toddler Madeleine McCann.
Therefore, there sadly wasn't much hope that 19-year-old Jacob Lyon would ever be discovered alive after he first went missing in 2015, with police at a loss as to where he had ended up.
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However, a set of skeletal remains were discovered in Florida back in 2022 and after extensive DNA testing, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) were finally able to confirm recently that they belonged to Jacob.
According to the Walton County Sheriff's Office (WCSO), the remains were found on Miramar Beach by a man who was clearing a wooded area, and after a district medical examiner failed to identify them, they were sent off to the FDLE two years later in late 2024.
“This is not the result our community hoped for,” the WCSO said in its news release.
“For his family, we hope there is peace in knowing Jacob has been found.”
Jacob had been involuntarily hospitalised earlier in 2015 due to mental health issues, according to The Charley Project, but the cause of his death remains a mystery, with police now hoping that the location of his remains might give them some more clues as to how he sadly died.
"If you look at the scene where Jacob was recovered in 2022, it looked completely different from what it does today," Major Dustin Cosson with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office said.
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"It was behind a hotel, Sleep Inn, and Sleep Inn isn't even there anymore, so what we have to do is go back and look through the multiple pages of report from Niceville Police Department and see if there's any commonalities, maybe to that area, or maybe just names of individuals we've encountered in the past."
Cosson also paid tribute to the teenager's family and expressed hope that it would bring some closure after what has undoubtedly been a torrid 10 years where they've harboured hopes of him still finding his way home.
He said: “Ten years is a long time. But Jacob is home. Jake is back with his family, and family can make a little bit of closure. And we hope that we can continue to get answers again."
Police's priority is now tracking down Jacob's mother, who set up The Charley Project, with the hope of bringing her son home when he first went missing.
If you're experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They're open from 5pm–midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58 and they also have a webchat service if you're not comfortable talking on the phone.
James Moorhouse