On March 4, 2019, according to NCMEC, the Clayton County Police were called to a scene where a teen boy was struck and killed on a roadway in Riverdale, Georgia. For years, the young teen was nameless and was deprived of a final resting place.

In April, 2022, an alert tipster finally came forward, after recognizing clues in a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) poster, and the victim was positively identified as 15-year-old Dywimas Autman.

According to published reports, investigators worked the case and zoned in quickly to identify and arrest the suspect, Jermara Little. Little was arrested shortly after the deadly incident and charged with hit-and-run and first degree vehicular homicide, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Although there was an arrest, detectives struggled to identify the victim, who they eventually began to call: “Riverdale John Doe.”

The teen was reportedly wearing multiple layers of clothing and no identification in his pockets. All authorities really had to go on were his distinct tattoos. They were described as the word "Ace" on his left forearm and other tattoos on the base of his thumb, on his right hand, and forefinger.

It was ultimately those tattoos, according to NCMEC, that led to his identity. An alert citizen reportedly came forward after recognizing the images from a poster released to the public.

When Dywimas's mother Shandra was notified of her son's death, she recalled the last time she saw her child. "He told me he loved me," she said, and then he gave her a big hug. After all of the years, Shandra said her son loved to make others laugh, "We just wanted to know where he was."

Dominic Hayes told Fox 5, he reported his son missing in 2019. Dywimas had a desire to possibly pursue a career in criminal justice, his father said.

NCMEC reports there are around 45,000 sets of unidentified remains throughout America. According to a report prepared by the Forensic Services Unit and the Missing Child and Data Analytics Team, “...it is estimated that more than 1,000 of these remains are those of children.”

If you have any information on a missing child or unidentified child case, please contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children directly: 1-800-THE-LOST

Read more:

Victim of deadly Riverdale hit-and-run identified 3 years later, police charge suspect | Fox 5 Atlanta

Woman charged with killing pedestrian, but teen's identity remains a mystery | 11alive.com

Help ID Me | NCMEC