Could remains found in Gallia County belong to Koby Roush?

Watch a previous NBC4 report from Nov. 14, 2022 about a search-and-recovery team's efforts to find Koby Roush

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Since Danielle Dyer’s 24-year-old brother went missing three years ago, law enforcement agencies in rural Ohio have found their fair share of human remains.

It wasn’t until Saturday afternoon, however, that one of those discoveries finally prompted a phone call from Jim Mulford, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations detective assigned to investigate the July 2020 disappearance of Koby Roush, Dyer said. The Gallia County Sheriff’s Office, Mulford informed Dyer’s dad, had located a set of human remains near Roush’s last known location.

“We’ve never had Jim call us about other remains,” Dyer said.

Around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, a person walking near Mount Carmel Road reported to 911 dispatchers that human remains in an open field in Raccoon Township, according to Gallia County Sheriff Matt Champlin.

Sheriff’s deputies and Gallia County Coroner Daniel Whiteley arrived at the scene and positively confirmed the remains as human, Champlin said. Authorities have yet to confirm the precise location of the remains -- and the identity -- but Whiteley said they were found in nearly “exactly the same location” where Roush disappeared.

“All we need to do is figure out how we're going to prove that,” Whiteley said.

Above: The last known location of Koby, where the family found his abandoned car was 38°56’43.8″N 82°25’47.8″W on Mount Carmel Road, Raccoon Township in Gallia County. It is close to a former paper mill.

Above: The Gallia County Sheriff's Office located human remains on Saturday, March 11 near Mount Carmel Road, Raccoon Township in Gallia Gounty.

Dyer, who has spent the last two-and-a-half years waiting to be reunited with her younger brother, said she started crying when she learned the remains were near where Roush’s abandoned truck was found after he went missing on July 5, 2020.

With the help of crime victim services Golden Hearts A Voice 4 the Voiceless, Dyer and a search team – often armed with pink ribbons and a cadaver dog named Thor – have trudged through miles of land, including the area near Mount Carmel Road in Raccoon Township, for any shred of evidence leading to Roush.

Given the proximity of the human remains and the call from Mulford, Dyer said she is preparing for the possibility that authorities will positively identify the remains as those of Roush, although there are others who have gone missing in that part of Ohio, including Raymont Willis, who was last seen in Waverly on July 4, 2020 -- a day before Roush disappeared.

“I don’t want it to be my brother, but I would really like for us to have closure,” Dyer said. “Everyday has felt hopeless.”

Deputies collected about 70 human bones from the area, including a skull with nearly a full set of teeth, Whiteley said. He expects the remains -- and dental X-rays of the teeth -- to be taken to the Montgomery County Coroner's Office on Wednesday morning for an autopsy and examination.