Officials have confirmed that human remains found east of Worland belonged to an Idaho man who went missing in 2015.
On Tuesday, two people found a human skull while tending to cattle in the area off Blue Bank Road between Worland and Ten Sleep, the Washakie County Sheriff’s Office and Worland Police Department announced in a joint statement.
Washakie County Coroner Jeff Lapp determined the remains belonged to Patrick Michael Combs, who was reported missing over seven years ago, the statement said.
Sheriff Austin T. Brookwell and a deputy met with the people who discovered the remains on Tuesday, the statement said. They, and one of their family members, brought officials to the location of the skull.
Once on scene, sheriff’s office personnel started documenting the area.
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There was a large number of human bones — all in one area — a few yards away from the skull, the statement said.
The people who found the skull and the additional family member volunteered their time to assist Brookwell and the deputy in locating all the other remains.
One of them located a wallet close by the scene, the statement said. The wallet had a driver’s license that belonged to Combs. There was also another card in the wallet with the same name on it.
Due to the remoteness of the area, Brookwell asked the three civilians if they would help guide the other officials that were en route to the scene, the statement said.
“The three individuals again volunteered their time and their UTVs to assist in getting the extra personnel into the location,” the statement said.
Lapp then arrived on scene, and the remains were turned over to his custody, the statement said.
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Officials have so far made the identification based solely off the contents of the wallet, the statement said. But they are “certain the remains belong to Patrick Michael Combs.” Lapp is expected to make additional confirmation in the coming days.
GPS data also shows Combs’ remains were found only 2.1 miles away from where his truck was abandoned years ago.
Investigators don’t suspect foul play.
Combs was 38 years old when he was last seen. Almost two years after Combs was reported missing, his Mazda pickup was spotted well off the Blue Bank by a pilot flying over the area.
“Over the years, multiple individuals and cadaver dog teams had searched the area but were never able to locate him,” the statement said.
At the time, Washakie County Sheriff Steve Rakness said the truck looked like it has been there for some time, and it was unclear why the truck was in Wyoming, previous AP reporting shows.
The location of the truck, and subsequently the newly discovered remains, are about 400 miles, or about seven hours away, from Combs’ Idaho address.
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