A Texas laboratory conducting specialized DNA testing on human remains discovered in rural Eureka Springs in December 2024, hasn’t yet been able to identify the individual, but might be getting closer.

Investigator Kenen Martinez of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said last week that Othram, a private lab in Houston that is conducting the testing, has identified some distant relatives of the source of the DNA and also has been able to exclude some long-missing individuals as possible sources of the remains, which included a skull.

Among those who have been ruled out are Terry Cornell George of Topeka, Kan., who disappeared from Eureka Springs in June 1989; Arlene Mary Warren, missing from Eureka Springs since June 2010; and Jason Lierl, missing from rural Madison County since January 2022.

Martinez said Othram is still working on establishing genealogy based on the DNA results.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office at 870423-2901.