BIG CHIMNEY, W.Va. — Investigators found female human remains Friday afternoon during their search of a property near Big Chimney for a missing 16-year-old girl.
Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Sean Snuffer said in a news conference that sheriff’s deputies, along with specially-trained crews, scoured the property at 355 Offutt Drive.
“During the search, investigators did discover a female human remains on the property,” Snuffer said. “The remains are in the process of being transported to the office of the chief medical examiner for positive identification and further examination. At this stage in the investigation, we’re unable to release any information, pending confirmation, to the identity that remains.”
Snuffer said this is a tragic case.
“This is not the outcome anyone hoped for in a missing person case, but we hope this development may provide some measure of closure to the family and friends.”
Snuffer said that deputies executed a search warrant earlier in the week in connection with the case but returned Friday with a second search warrant after hearing from neighbors.
“We can’t release any information pertaining to the investigation at all,” Snuffer said. “I can tell you just during the investigation, there’s factors that led them back to the property, and that’s why the search warrant was applied for, granted, and executed today.”
The sheriff’s office released information last week about the disappearance of Shayln Shantel Harvey who was last seen on May 2.
KCSD Chief Deputy Sean Snuffer said the department was executing a search warrant on the property near Offutt Drive.
“We are looking for any evidence that would point us toward where Shayln Harvey is,” Snuffer told reporters.
He said cadaver dogs were being used.
“There’s some areas of interest they are checking right now. As of right now, they are still looking and still searching,” Snuffer said.
Snuffer wouldn’t say if there’s a person of interest in Harvey’s disappearance.
Meanwhile, her stepfather, James Truman, who reported her missing last week, is now in jail on related child sexual abuse charges.
A criminal complaint said Truman, 52, admitted to sex crimes when deputies were interviewing him about Harvey’s disappearance.
He’s being held in the South Central Regional Jail on $100,000 bail.
MetroNews Reporters Chris Lawrence and Jack Carlson contributed to this story.