Remains of woman missing since 2016 found in home’s crawl space, Mississippi cops say

A man working in the basement of a Mississippi home reignited a five-year-old missing person case after stumbling onto a single human bone, tucked into a crawl space.

The man, who was building doors in the basement of the Fulton home, dialed 911. The piece of skeletal remains was taken to the Mississippi State Crime lab Jan. 19 for testing. On Tuesday, Fulton police shared the results.

The bone matches the DNA of missing Fulton resident Deborah Evans-Bell, assistant chief of police Brad Rogers told McClatchy News.

Evans-Bell was reported missing in February 2016, outlets report.

According to her husband’s account, she went to a doctor’s appointment but never came home, the Itawamba County Times reported. Her remains were found in the same home she once lived in.

Evans-Bell, a military veteran in her mid-50s, was well known in the small town of Fulton, and frequently chatted with local business owners and city officials, the outlet reported.

No cause of death has been determined by the Mississippi Crime Lab, but more findings are expected, Rogers said.

This story was originally published March 30, 2021 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Remains of woman missing since 2016 found in home’s crawl space, Mississippi cops say."