A man who was on the U.S. Marshals most wanted list and was featured on CNN's "The Hunt" has been confirmed dead, thanks to the dog who found his skull.
The dog, a Labrador retriever, found the skull in a Texas field in September. The pet's owner called authorities, who then conducted DNA tests to confirm if the body part belonged to fugitive child sex offender Kevin Patrick Stoeser, CNN reported.
U.S. Marshals announced Monday the skull's DNA was a match to Stoeser, who escaped from a halfway house last year and has been wanted ever since.
"We owe her a box of dog bones," U.S. Marshal Robert R. Almonte told CNN.
It was not immediately clear how or when Stoeser died and the skull was the only part of his body that was found, authorities said. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to child sexual assault and child pornography in 2003.
Stoeser, who was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army, was released on probation to a halfway house in 2011 but was quickly sent back to prison for electronically communicating with underage girls.
He was released again to a Texas halfway house, the Austin Transitional Center, in August 2013. But by October that same year he was busted for allegedly using a cellphone with photos of minors, authorities said according to CNN.
Stoeser, 41, fled the halfway house when he was confronted with the accusations. He has been on the U.S. Marshals' top 15 most wanted list ever since.
CNN's "The Hunt" has previously featured criminals that have later been captured. A California man suspected of child molestation was killed in a police shootout in New York City after law enforcement received a tip during a July airing of "The Hunt."
