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By CASSIE SMITH
Grimes County officials believe remains discovered in a remote area Thursday are those of an Anderson man who went missing four years ago.
Carlos Erik Rodriguez Jr. was reported missing from his parents' home Oct. 4, 2004. His parents last saw him when they went to bed the night before. When they awoke, he was gone but had left his wallet and personal belongings behind, according to newspaper accounts at the time.
Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said the case had remained active and officials had conducted various searches over the years. But with the four-year anniversary of the 19-year-old's disappearance approaching, Sowell said, he had a hunch that officials needed to look again.
About a dozen employees of the Sheriff's Department, Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers and other law enforcement agencies performed grid searches Thursday across about 40 acres of wooded land off County Road 178 near Singleton, where Rodriquez lived, Sowell said.
It was there that searchers found a tennis shoe matching the kind Rodriquez was wearing when he went missing, Sowell said. Soon after, they came across a human skull, several other bones, clothing and a .22 rifle.
Though officials can't say for sure that the remains are those of the missing Anderson High School graduate, the chances are good, Sowell said.
The bones will be sent to North Texas State University for DNA analysis, Grimes County District Attorney Tuck McLain said.
"Hopefully, they'll be able to give us a possible cause of death, too," he said.
Sowell said finding the remains four years later was a "stroke of luck" and described the search as looking for a needle in a haystack.
"This is a very thick area -- I'm talking thick, thick, thick," Sowell said of the land adjacent to Rodriguez's home. "If you don't know where you're going, you can get lost."
Sowell said officials were prepared to begin at "ground zero" with a homicide investigation.
McLain said that it was too early to determine whether foul play was involved and that officials might never know how Rodriquez died.
"We'll have to wait and see what they come up with," he said. "We may never know exactly."
Family members could not be reached Thursday night.
