SWAMPSCOTT — Authorities exhumed the body of a 15-year-old boy who was beaten to death more than five decades ago from a cemetery here Wednesday, raising hopes about new information in a case that remains unsolved.

Henry Bedard Jr. , a high school sophomore, was last seen on Dec. 16, 1974, walking on Paradise Road in the North Shore town. His lifeless body was found under a pile of leaves in a wooded area the next day. A baseball bat with unique markings was discovered nearby. Police determined Bedard had been bludgeoned to death.

“What happened to Henry has never left this town, and young or old, all of the community still talks about Henry and what happened on that fateful day,” Swampscott Police Chief Ruben Quesada said in a statement.

Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker said his

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