(KRON) -- A homicide victim whose skeletal remains were found along a Northern California river was recently identified using technology advances in DNA testing.

The 21-year-old man's DNA was stored by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office for two decades as investigators struggled to figure out who he was.

In October 2012, a local resident spotted shoes sticking out of the sand along the banks of Eel River in Piercy, Calif., 170 miles from San Francisco, according to DNA Solves. The resident pulled on the shoes and unearthed a skeleton hidden in a shallow grave. The skull was missing, DNA Solves said.

"Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System ... and the man was commonly referred to as 'Skeleton in Sneakers,'" DNA Solves wrote. "Clothing collected suggested 1980's styles. John Doe's death was labeled as a homicide."

Earlier this year, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram, a cold case forensic lab in Texas, to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the man. Othram scientists developed a DNA extract and researched the victim's genealogy.

Investigators interviewed potential relatives and compared their DNA to the "Skeleton in Sneakers." The victim was ultimately identified as Warren David Hawkins, a man who was born in 1965, according to DNA Solves.

In July of 1986, when Hawkins was 21-years-old, his mother dropped him off at a bus station. He was later reported missing by his sister to the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office in Washington, DNA Solves said. Hawkins was never seen or heard from again.