By David Esteppe
Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department has released the identity of the remains discovered by a person looking for glass bottles in trash near Surber Road outside of White Sulphur Springs on Apr. 18. The bones were sent to an anthropologist at The Smithsonian Institute for identification. This created a middle-man in identifying the remains as Richard Fowler, Jr. of Port Leyden, NY.
According to Greenbrier County Sheriff Jan Cahill, the 42-year-old Fowler left family on Memorial Day, 2013, vowing never to be seen again. No missing person report was filed. While waiting for the results from The Smithsonian, other information was pieced together giving an idea that the remains may belong to Fowler. At the rest area on Interstate 64 near where the remains were later found, the vehicle Fowler was driving when he left town was discovered abandoned in June of 2013.
DNA results would later confirm that the human remains found and sent to The Smithsonian for identification were those of Fowler. Cahill added that there were no signs of foul play.
