Skeletal remains found by a man setting fox traps in Jasper County, Indiana, in the autumn of 1983 were later determined to be a white male, about 18 to 26 years old with reddish-brown hair, and the victim of a homicide. The body remained unidentified for decades.

In 1994 convicted serial killer Larry William Eyler confessed to the killing, saying he picked up a hitchhiker near Vincennes along US Route 41 around the weekend of November 20, 1982, drove him several hours north and left him in Jasper County. Authorities attributed the murder to Eyler, though the victim was not identified at that time. Forensic genetic genealogy in 2021 confirmed the victim as William Joseph Bill Lewis, 19, of Peru, Indiana. Lewis had last been seen by relatives in early 1982 after attending a friend’s funeral in Texas and was believed to be hitchhiking back to Indiana.

A memorial service and burial next to his father in Peru followed after identification. Does anyone have information about William Lewis’s movements in 1982 or who he might have been traveling with?