COUGAR, Wash. — Human remains found in a remote area of Cowlitz County back in 2021 have now been identified as a man who disappeared from the Portland area three decades ago, the county sheriff's office said in a statement Thursday.

Tree planters contracted by Weyerhaeuser were working near Merrill Lake around Cougar on April 26, 2021, when they found a human skull on the 7292 Road. They reported the discovery, and Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office detectives recovered the skull.

The skull appeared to have two entrance and two exit bullet holes, the sheriff's office said. A search of the area using cadaver dogs that May turned up a femur.

The King County Medical Examiners Office analyzed the skull and confirmed that the holes were caused by bullets. Then the skull and femur were sent to

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