Massachusetts State Police have identified skeletal remains discovered more than three decades ago in a shallow grave in Quincy as those of Glenn Powers, a 1970 graduate of Randolph High School. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Powers died of blunt force trauma and ruled the death a homicide.
The remains were found on March 21, 1991, by a hiker walking in a wooded area near 270 Quarry Street. The body had been buried face-down in a grave roughly three feet deep. Contemporary reports noted a roughly circular hole about four inches in diameter in the skull at the crown, and the medical examiner estimated the remains had been in the ground for at least six months. The site has since been developed and is near the Sgt. Robert Allen Curry/Michael G. Therrien fields.
Investigators identified Powers using forensic genetic genealogy, which combines advanced DNA sequencing with traditional family-tree research. The Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center performed the genealogical work, while DNA analysis was conducted by the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab and BODE Technology. A sibling reference sample confirmed the match in October 2026. Powers was born around 1951 and would have been approximately 40 years old at the time of his death.…