A three-year search for missing Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo ended in tragedy. Officials confirmed Monday that a human skull found in Decatur is hers.
Bobo, 21, was a student at the University of Tennessee at Martin. She was reported missing in April 2011 from outside her home in Darden, about 90 miles southwest of Nashville. According to her brother, he saw her being led away from the home between 7:30 and 8 a.m. He had then told the investigators that he saw a man he mistook for her boyfriend lead Bobo away from their home.
Two men found the skull Sunday near a property owned by suspect Zachary Rye Adams's family.
Adams was charged with Bobo's kidnapping and murder after her disappearance and had pled not guilty.
Two men, Jason Wayne Autry and Zachary Rye Adams, have been charged with murder and aggravated kidnapping in the case. Officials also charged Tennessee brothers Mark and Jeffrey Pearcy for tampering with the evidence, reports Reuters.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said that the forensic evidence revealed that the skull was of Bobo.
"It was my prayer, as well as the prayers of many others, that Holly Bobo would be found," TBI Director Mark Gwyn said at the press conference, reports NBC News. He added that the investigation behind Bobo's disappearance is still on.
District Attorney Matt Stowe said his office was "ready, willing, and able" to seek the death penalty in the case. This would only be decided in the coming weeks. He said that Bobo's family would make a statement, Tuesday.
According to Gwyn, the Bobo investigation has been the most expensive and exhaustive in TBI's history.
