Human foot remains, discovered within a hiking shoe on the banks of Fish Lake in south-central Utah, have been identified as belonging to a man who disappeared in 1997, officials said.

The Sevier County Sheriff’s Office reported the discovery in May. The investigation revealed a significant detail: the hiking boot was produced in 1996, and for that year only. Investigators, therefore, were able to connect the boot to a cold case disappearance from September 1997.

The missing individual, David White, had planned a fishing trip with friends and secured a hotel room close to the lake. When his friends’ plans changed, White decided to proceed with his fishing expedition alone, according to authorities.

White’s boat was later discovered adrift on the lake, with no one onboard. The presence of a shoe and a hat floating in the water suggested the location where White may have fallen into the water. There were no witnesses to these events, leaving the circumstances surrounding White’s disappearance a mystery for over two decades.

“This case has been on the mind of every one of the SAR members who were involved in the search 28 years ago. It is good to finally have some closure for the family and the searchers,” Sheriff Nathan Curtis said in a statement.

The medical examiner’s office instructed investigators to collect DNA samples from the foot and from a daughter of White’s, which were then sent to Bode Cellmark Forensics for analysis. The subsequent testing revealed a parental match with a certainty of 99.9994%, according to the sheriff’s office.

This raises important questions about the endurance of mysteries and the eventual emergence of truth. As Stefanie Bennett, the daughter of White, expressed in a statement, “We are deeply grateful to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office, SARs, Detective Sgt Pearson, Detective Sgt Larsen, Sheriff Curtis, and Gary (Moulton) from Fishlake Lodge for their incredible support and tireless efforts. We are also deeply grateful to the individual and his dog who found the shoe; without them, we would not be where we are today.”

This is a modicum of closure on a decades-old mystery and a testament to the perseverance of investigative authorities.