Remains of retired University of Delaware professor found

The skeletal remains of a retired University of Delaware professor who went missing over a year ago have been found.

John E. Dohms was 64-years-old when he went missing on September 13, 2012. The retired professor had dementia and was reported missing by his caretaker when he didn’t come home from a walk, according to The Daily Mail.

The remains were reportedly found around 4:30 pm Friday by hiker who saw bones in a wooded area while he was searching for deer antlers, according to The News Journal. The hiker contacted the authorities.

The remains were identified by dental records.

The next step is determining the cause and manner of death and hopefully a time frame for when Dohms died,” said Hal Brown, deputy director of the Delaware Medical Examiner's Office.

When Dohms initially went missing, the search was intense. The University of Delaware offered a $10,000 reward for Dohms’ return and police, k9's, and rescue teams searched for Dohms on the trails and woodlands that he was known to often walk, but a spokesman for the police department said that his remains were never found in those places.

The case was closed in February 2013, a year before Dohms’ body was found.

The case remains under investigation.