It is not uncommon for police to discover a person's remains and more often than not such bodies can be identified.
However, this is not always the case in rare circumstances. When police hit a brick wall with identifying a body, it ultimately becomes known as either a John or Jane Doe.
One unfortunate such case which spans nearly two decades is that of a young man who was discovered on a West Yorkshire moor by a pair of geography students. The remains were discovered on November 2, 2003, in Rombalds Moor, Yorkshire Live reports.
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The man died wearing a black Carling Premiership T-shirt, checked boxer shorts in a size XL, black size eight trainers, blue Le Coq Sportif tracksuit bottoms and grey socks with the word 'Hike' in red lettering fixed at the top. The geography student came upon the remains while studying the effects of wind on trees at the High Moor tree plantation.
Initially, he believed the remains were that of a sheep, however, upon taking a closer look he quickly identified a human skull, shoes, and trousers. The student quickly rushed to Keighley police station to report what he found.
He returned to the scene two days later while being accompanied by a detective and doctor. Despite having a clear description of the man's clothing, police have never been able to identify him.
It is understood the force spent years meticulously going through missing person files across Europe and North America in order to find a DNA match. More information surrounding the case spring up in 2011 when an inquest in Bradford was held.
It was revealed in the inquest that there was evidence of a noose on a branch above where the skeleton was found. A forensic post-mortem examination of the partial skeleton concluded that it belonged to a white man of medium build, roughly 5ft 4ins to 5ft 8ins tall with medium to short dark hair.
It was understood that he was aged between 55 and 60 and was right-handed. The inquest concluded on the balance of probability that the unidentified man took his own life.
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