Human remains discovered in July were those of a man believed to have been abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1981, it was confirmed today.
Charlie Armstrong (57), from south Armagh, went missing on his way to Mass.
The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) has received the results of the DNA examination following the find at Colgagh, Co Monaghan.
A spokesman said: “The results positively indicate that the remains are those of Mr Charlie Armstrong.”
Dublin coroner Dr Brian Farrell has authorised the release of the remains to the dead man’s family.
Mr Armstrong’s family believe he was abducted and murdered by the IRA.
He is one of the so-called “Disappeared” - 14 men and women abducted and killed by republican paramilitaries at the height of the violence in the North.
For several months in 2008, a team of experts concentrated on an area of bog and gorse at Inniskeen in a search just a couple of miles from the Armstrong family home in Crossmaglen.
The commission was prompted to act that year by an anonymous map, sent to the family, which claimed he had been buried there.
It was the second map the family had received. The first showed a slightly different location.
Nothing was found during those searches, but the remains found in July were discovered in an adjoining area.
The IRA admitted in 1999 that it killed and buried nine of the disappeared - Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Jean McConville, Columba McVeigh, Brendan Megraw, John McClory, Brian McKinney, Eamon Molloy and Danny McElhone - in secret locations.
The bodies of Mr Molloy, Mr McKinney, Mr McClory, Ms McConville and Mr McElhone have been found.
Others who vanished during the Troubles include Gerry Evans, Robert Nairac and Seamus Ruddy, who disappeared in France and whose murder was admitted by the INLA.
PA