Cold CASE: Boston Man ID'd As Body Found In Fall River Landfill 17 Years Ago

Authorities in Fall River say they have solved a mystery that has evaded them for nearly two decades, but a big question remains.

Leon Brown, 41, of Boston, died in August 2005, died in August 2005, but investigators couldn't ID him until recently. His grave in Fall River has a marker for the first time in 17 years.
Photo Credit: *Bristol County District Attorney's Office*

Josh Lanier

09/01/2022 12:29 p.m.

The Bristol County District Attorney's Office on Thursday, Sept. 1, announced that investigators had identified the body found in a landfill 17 years ago as 41-year-old Leon Brown of Boston. Though, the circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown.

Officers discovered Brown's body in the BFI landfill along Airport Road on Aug. 29, 2005, with few clues to help investigators ID him then. He disappeared earlier that month, but no one reported him missing right away, the prosecutor said. He suffered from multiple sclerosis and needed leg braces to walk, but they weren't found nearby.

An autopsy showed that he'd been dead for about a week when police found him. And trash found near it led investigators to believe Brown got there via a dump truck from the Peabody or North Shore areas, the prosecutor said. His DNA was not in any system detectives could find, and the case went cold.

It took advancements in fingerprinting technology and a partnership between the Bristol County DA's Unidentified Bodies Project, Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Unit, and the Fall River Police Department to uncover his identity.

Fall River officials buried Brown in a grave marked by a number. Members of the Bristol County District Attorney's Office visited it earlier and put his name on it.

It's unclear what caused Brown's death. Police only list it as suspicious, but District Attorney Thomas Quinn promised answers in the case.

“We are now focussed on investigating the circumstances surrounding his suspicious death," Quinn wrote. "But without the Unidentified Bodies Project, we never would have had a case to fully investigate. If we determine foul play was involved in Mr. Brown’s disappearance, death, or disposal, we will not stop until the individual responsible is brought to justice.”

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