Oklahoma authorities said human remains were discovered last week at a location reportedly near where the car of a missing Louisiana woman was found last year.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE on Thursday, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said that on Oct. 12, they were notified that a landowner in Fort Towson, Okla., had found possible human remains.
“The OSBI, Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office, Hugo Police Department, Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office responded to the area to investigate,” read the statement. “Human remains were recovered, and transported to the Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner for examination and identification.”
According to KXII-TV, the remains were found in the area where Caitlyn Case’s vehicle was located in 2022.
Last year, the OSBI said via a Facebook post that Case was traveling from Houma, Louisiana, to Colorado on or around Aug. 4. “Case communicated with family members during her trip until they lost contact with her on August 5, 2022,” per the bureau’s statement at the time. “At that point, she was traveling on Hwy 271 between Paris, Texas and Hugo, Oklahoma.”
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“Case’s vehicle, a 2006 Black GMC Envoy with Louisiana plates 957FDO, was located along the banks of the Kiamichi River in a rural area south of Fort Towson, Oklahoma during the evening hours of August 12, 2022,” the statement continued. “Case has no contacts in Southern Oklahoma and her whereabouts are unknown.”
Caitlyn’s mother, Peggy, told CBS affiliate KWTV-TV that she was informed about the human remains by the case’s lead agent and was concerned that they belonged to her daughter. “We’ve been in limbo forever, was she trafficked?” she said. “Or is she still out there? We don’t know where she is – it is a horrible balance to live through every day,” Peggy explained ”Each day, it is where could she be?”
Gordon Case, the missing woman’s father, told the outlet that he believes “someone did this to her.” He said, “She didn’t just dump her car into a river and then get out and walk off.”
He also added that Caitlyn lost her cell phone service while driving through Texas on Aug. 5., recalling that she needed directions. He told KWTV: “You’re talking to someone that you love, and you know, all of a sudden they’re gone,” he said.
The statement from the OSBI to PEOPLE made no mention of Case’s disappearance in their recent announcement of the human remains.
Caitlyn Case is described as 5’5” and 140 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. At the time, she wore a black spaghetti strap style top, light blue jeans and red tennis shoes.
Those who came into contact with Case are asked to contact the OSBI tip line at 800-522-8017.