The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday afternoon that they have identified the human skeletal remains that were discovered Jan. 6 in a wooded area on St. Helena Island close to where a 67-year-old man went missing more than four years ago.
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Major Bob Bromage said in a news release that the partial skeleton found off Dulamo Road was that of Michael Hatfield, whose family reported him missing in November 2017.
Hatfield was last seen Nov. 26, 2017, at his home on Creek House Lane on St. Helena, according to a December 2017 news release from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
On that same day, a resident of Dulamo Road later reported to deputies, a person could be heard calling for help in the woods in the evening, according to a news report at the time.
Deputies searched the area, but did not find anyone. The case continued to be active with investigators making an appeal for more information last winter on the agency’s in-house television series “Lowcounty Law: On Air.”
The remains were sent to a forensic anthropologist in Charleston for determinations to be made about the person’s gender, age, cause and estimated date of death.
Hatfield’s identity was confirmed by DNA at the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office’s Forensic Services Laboratory.
”Although his remains have been identified, we continue to investigate Michael Hatfield’s death in hopes of providing answers for his family,” Bromage said.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
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Liz Farrell is the new executive editor at FITSNews. She was named 2018’s top columnist in the state by South Carolina Press Association and is back after taking a nearly two-year break from corporate journalism to reclaim her soul. Email her at liz@fitsnews.com or tweet her @ElizFarrell.
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