Human remains found in Bollinger County identified as missing woman
BOLLINGER COUNTY, Mo. (KBSI) – Human remains found on a piece of property in Bollinger County have been identified.
Leah Lamb was last seen on August 23 at a property where she had been living in Bollinger County.
During the investigation, the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office obtained information from people related to Lamb which led a Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office investigator to apply for a search warrant for the property where Lamb had been living.
The search warrant was granted on Wednesday, October 11. Officials with the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office, Bollinger County Coroner’s Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol, and Missouri Department of Conservation served the search warrant at the home in the area of Bollinger County Road 500 and State Highway 34 West on Thursday, October 12.
After the search warrant was served and the property was secured, members of the Missouri Region E Homeland Security Response Team (HSRT), along with local volunteer firefighters, arrived at the property and searched the land.
A short time after the land search began, officials with HSRT located human remains on the property.
An autopsy was performed on the remains at the St. Francois County Morgue in Farmington on October 16.
The remains were confirmed to be that of a female. It was found that the remains did not have any signs of traumatic injuries or fractures.
The Bollinger County Coroner’s Office identified those remains as those of Lamb.
For further confirmation and complete documentation purposes, evidence was collected during the autopsy to compare to Lamb’s DNA which is already on file through the State of Missouri.
Bollinger County Sheriff Casey A. Graham thanked the Bollinger County Coroner’s Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Region E Homeland Security Response Team and local volunteer firefighters for their assistance during the investigation.
The missing person investigation pertaining to Lamb is considered open pending the results of DNA testing. No foul play is suspected.
Sheriff Graham stated in a Facebook post:
“I would like to thank the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Bollinger County Coroner’s Office, and the numerous agencies assigned to the Missouri Region E Homeland Security Response Team for their assistance in this investigation. At this time, there is no indication that there is or ever was a threat to the public in reference to this investigation.”
The investigation is ongoing.
