A convicted sex offender was arrested for the 1988 murder of an eight-year-old boy whose body was discovered in woods outside an Atlanta suburb.
James Michael Coates, 56, was taken into custody Wednesday after new DNA evidence tied him to the slaying of young Joshua Harmon.
He is now facing a string of charges, including felony murder, aggravated assault, sodomy, molestation and tampering with evidence.
Roswell police announced the arrest in a press conference Friday, but did not disclose the specific piece of evidence that implicated Coates in the crime.
'This was a tragedy that no family should endure,' Conroy said. 'The death of Josh and the fact that his killer remained free for such a long time is unimaginable.' Roswell Police Chief James Conroy stated.
'When you have something as tragic as the kidnapping and murder of an eight-year-old, that locks into your heart and that's something you don't want to give up'.
Joshua was reported missing by his parents on May 15, 1988, after he didn't return home for dinner at their apartment complex in Roswell.
His body was discovered two days later in a wooded area a short distance from the complex. Coates lived in the same apartment complex at the time, investigators said.
James Michael Coates (left) was taken into custody on Wednesday after new DNA evidence tied him to the slaying of Joshua Harmon (right) in 1988
Police said the case went cold, but they revisited leads over the years, and law enforcement technology improved.
With the permission of his family, police exhumed the boy's body in February 2021 in hopes of finding more evidence. Additional DNA testing was done on evidence from the crime scene, and police said it linked Coates to the crime.
Coates, who now lives in the town of Woodstock, was convicted of child molestation in 1990 and 1993, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
After the 1993 conviction, he spent two decades in prison and was released in August 2013, according to Georgia Department of Corrections records.
Harmon went out to play on May 15, 1988 and never returned home for dinner
'Josh was an amazing young boy who had an uncanny relationship with nature and with God, so I know where he is and I know he's at peace': Harmon's aunt paid tribute to her late nephew after news of his alleged killer's arrest
Joshua's aunt, Marlene Carlisle, became emotional as she turned to investigators at Friday´s news conference and thanked them.
Conroy said at the press conference that detectives, police officers, scientists and others who worked the case over the years 'never gave up hope in bringing Josh's killer to justice.'
One of the longtime investigators, former Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Keith Howard, said that 'bringing this case together is a miraculous feat.'
'Everyone I've met throughout my involvement in this, which was over 20 years, was always passionate about making sure they solved this case,' said Howard, who is now chief deputy with the Morgan County Sheriff's Office.
Joshua's aunt, Marlene Carlisle, became emotional as she turned to investigators at Friday´s news conference and thanked them. They 'always took anything and everything we had to say to heart and ran with it,' she said.
'Josh was an amazing young boy who had an uncanny relationship with nature and with God, so I know where he is and I know he´s at peace,' Carlisle said.
Coates, who would have been 23 years old at the time he killed Harmon, would spend the rest of his life behind bars if found guilty.
Harmon disappeared from suburban Roswell, Georgia in 1988. His remains were found nearby two days later
The apartment complex as it appears today in an aerial photo
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