Missing in Ohio: Remains of Koby Roush located

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The human remains found in a Gallia County field earlier this month have been identified.

Gallia County Coroner Daniel Whiteley said Friday that skeletal remains have been confirmed as belonging to Koby Roush, a 24-year-old Waverly man missing since July 2020.

On Saturday, March 11, a man called 911 to report the sight of what appeared to be human bones while walking in an open field near Mount Carmel Road in Raccoon Township, according to 911 audio provided by the Gallia County call center.

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.

The caller said he found the remains about a half-mile west of a cabin on the 2700 block of Mount Carmel Road -- an address in close proximity to Roush's last known location, where his family found his abandoned, broken-down car shortly after Roush was reported missing.

On Wednesday, Roush's older sister Danielle Dyer said she began to cry when she learned the remains were found so close to her brother's last known location.

Since Roush went missing nearly three years ago, Dyer and crime victim services organization Golden Hearts A Voice 4 the Voiceless have trudged through miles of land across several counties in Ohio, including the area near Mount Carmel Road in Raccoon Township, for any shred of evidence leading to Roush.

“I don’t want it to be my brother," Dyer told NBC4 on Wednesday, "but I would really like for us to have closure."

A cause of death has yet to be determined, but Mark Roush, the father of Koby Roush, believes his son was murdered. Mark spoke to Koby for the final time on July 5, 2020, when Koby called him to inform him his car broke down.

"We know he was murdered. There isn't no doubt in my mind," Mark Roush said in September. "My son would've called me a long, long time ago."