A 16-year-old boy who was murdered by a US serial killer has been identified 41 years after he died.

James "Jimmie" Byron Haakenson is believed to have been killed in August 1976 after he ran away from his home in Minnesota.

His remains were found in 1978 among those of more than two dozen young men at the former home of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Gacy was convicted of killing 33 young men and was executed in 1994.

However James was among eight victims who remained unidentified.

DNA testing

The remains of all eight were exhumed in 2011 in an effort to identify them using DNA testing.

An appeal was made to relatives of young men who vanished between 1970 and Gacy's arrest in 1978 to submit saliva samples so that their DNA could be compared with the DNA of the remains.

Two siblings of James were among the scores of relatives who submitted saliva samples.

James' sister Lorie Sisterman reacts to the news of her brother being identified

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said there was a "strong genetic association" between the siblings and the remains.

James is the second of the eight victims to be identified.

His mother died in 2008 without knowing what happened to her son.

Gacy was executed in 1994 after being found guilty of murdering 33 young men. Credit: AP

Gacy is remembered as one of history's most bizarre killers, largely because of his work as an amateur clown.

The Chicago-area building contractor lured young men to his home by impersonating a police officer or promising them construction work.

There, he stabbed one and strangled the others before burying them or dumping their bodies in a river.