Fan of The Grateful Dead ID’d as Pacific Grove body

Cengiz Nuray was 17 years old and following The Grateful Dead when he disappeared in 1995.

Nuray, of Santa Barbara, was last seen April 27, 1995, at Greyhound Rock Beach in Santa Cruz, according to The Charley Project, which profiles cold missing persons cases.

At the time, Nuray told his friends he was going for a walk. He left his belongings on the beach and never returned.

Until recently, Nuray was considered an endangered runaway. But, on Wednesday, Monterey County Coroner’s representatives publicly identified Nuray as the boy whose body was found in 1995 floating off Asilomar Beach in Pacific Grove.

In December 2014, the Pacific Grove Police Department and the Coroner’s Office sent DNA from a set of badly decomposed remains to the California Department of Justice Laboratory.

Late last month, the DNA was linked to Nuray via CODIS, the FBI’s combined DNA index system.

His mother was recently notified and Nuray was officially laid to rest, according to Pacific Grove police.

—Allison Gatlin