HOWELL COUNTY, Mo. — A part of the skeletal remains found in August 2024 by authorities in rural Howell County, Missouri, have been identified as belonging to Ira Lee Briscoe, a 25-year-old man who has been declared missing from West Plains since 2020.

According to a Facebook post from the Howell County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), they spoke with a forensic scientist from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab in Springfield about previously submitted DNA samples from the recovered remains on March 18. The lab compared the remains and the sample collected from Ira’s parents, which resulted in a “99.9999999999% likelihood” that the remains belonged to the Briscoes’ biological child.

Ira Briscoe and his roommate — 49-year-old Limon Little — have been missing since December 2020, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Howell County Sheriff Matt Roberts informed the Briscoe family of this information shortly after speaking with the scientist. Little’s next of kin were also notified about the development.

The rest of the discovered human remains have not yet been identified, according to HCSO, but they will be submitted to a private laboratory for additional DNA testing.

“Sheriff Roberts and the Howell County Sheriff’s Office are committed to bringing this case to a close as soon as possible,” HCSO said in the Facebook post.