RCMP cordon off a crime scene using police taJOHN LEHMANN
Human remains found in a wooded area near the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George have been identified as those of a young man who went missing five years ago.
The coroner's service confirmed the identity of 22-year-old Anthony Lee after two hikers found his remains on May 13, but a cause of death has not been determined.
RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass says Lee was reported missing on March 16, 2008, and the last contact with him was a cellphone conversation in which he said he was lost in the Greenway trail system.
Douglass says Lee had brain surgery less than 10 days before he went missing as a result of a vicious attack two years earlier, and it'll never be known whether complications resulted in his becoming disoriented.
He says police found more evidence near the area where the remains were discovered, in the vast trail that extends to Highway 16, and that the case raises suspicions.
A witness reported seeing Lee walking along the Greenway trail system three days before he was reported missing.