This may be one of the most puzzling cases I’ve been following, researching, and advocating for.  Although Michael Marino’s case is in fact public, he was mistakenly linked to the wrong body years ago. This means was once considered a missing, then considered “found”… and then went back to being a missing person.

Yes, that does happen sometimes.  Imagine how many other cases have been falsely linked to the wrong body.  Originally, Michael was believed to be a John Wayne Gacy (serial killer) victim, and the unidentified body was identified as Michael Marino based on dental examinations.  However, Michael’s mother had an instinct that her son was mistakenly linked to that body.  Michael’s body was exhumed from the grave for DNA analysis.  His mother’s suspicious were correct; Michael did not having matching DNA to the body.  So, this leads me to my next thought:  Who does this unidentified body belong to then?  That is still a mystery.

Michael’s mother has stated that her son may still be a Gacy victim, but she, I, and many others, press to have the John Wayne Gacy case reopened and reexamined.  If a mistake such as this was made, then did it happen to other victims?  I have made an initiative to exhume the “identified” bodies of Gacy victims from their graves to have their DNA analyzed to be compared against missing people and to be entered into Gedmatch.  This is #ProjectExhumeGacyBodies.  Note:  There is already DNA on file for some of Gacy’s victims, but these are the ones that have not been “identified”.  

In fact, I do think that many of the cold cases bodies should be reexamined to ensure that there was not an error.  After all, back then we were using means that were not concrete; now we use DNA, which is much more precise in the identification process.

Anyway, Michael is not publicly noted as “missing” at the moment.  It is almost as if once he was [incorrectly] identified, his case slipped through the cracks with the law enforcement.  Well, it has not with his mother, who has been desperately trying to find her son since the day he vanished.

That is why I wanted to shed light on this case.

Michael Marino has been missing since October 24, 1976, at the age of 14. Michael went missing from Peoria, Illinois. His mother believes he may still be out there today.

What could have happened to Michael? Could he have gotten lost? Did someone kidnap him and raise him as their own? Was he trafficked? In an accident that was not seen by others? The possibilities are endless, but his mother has not ever given up hope.