Authorities on Tuesday still are waiting on autopsy results to identify skeletal remains found in Columbia that could be those of a Waynesville man missing since May 28.
The remains, found Friday night, are believed to be the remains of Edward Acosta, 46 of Waynesville, who has been missing for more than a month.
Columbia Police Officer Jill Wieneke said skeletal remains were found by a hiker near Rock Quarry Road. Acosta went missing May 28 after being released from the University Hospital in Columbia for suffering strokelike symptoms. Authorities said Acosta was last seen that evening at a Hampton Inn asking a clerk about room rates, but exited the building.
The Boone County Medical Examiner's Office has not made a positive identification of the body yet and are waiting for medical and dental records because the remains were largely skeletal. Wieneke said the skeletal remains were given to an anthropologist for help with identification and the full autopsy report would not be available for up to six weeks.
Wieneke said the body was found below a bluff by Rock Quarry Road and a search of the top of the bluff found a hat, cell phone and paperwork belonging to Acosta. Wieneke said the area where the body was found was heavily overgrown and wooded, making it difficult to see. That could be one of the reasons authorities were unable to locate his body on several searches, she said.
“It's not like a highly traversed area,” Wieneke said.
According to a press release, the remains were found in a creek bed at the base of several large bluffs. Foul play is not suspected and authorities have speculated that Acosta was unfamiliar with the area and may have accidentally fallen.
Pulaski County Sheriff J.B. King said he spoke with the lead detective on the case and it could be four to six weeks before any identification is made. But because Acosta's belongings were found near the remains, King said people are drawing their own conclusions.
Ted Basford, a close friend and fellow Shriner in the Legion of Honor, said Acosta had called him around 9 p.m. May 28. Basford said he was working that night and did not receive the message until the next morning, when he and another friend of Acosta's headed to Columbia to pick him up.
“I really got upset over this because we were so close,” Basford said. “I would have gone up and got him that night.”
After checking several hospitals, hotels and motels, Basford said they finally returned to Fort Leonard Wood without Acosta.
Attorney Kevin Hillman said although an identification has yet to be confirmed, it is very likely that the remains are of Acosta.
“As a fellow Shriner, I am saddened by this, although I think many of us feared this outcome,” Hillman said. “As there was no activity on his bank accounts or credit cards, it seems this would be the outcome. I mean, you have to eat.”
Hillman recently talked to Acosta family members and arranged legal papers for his family to conduct Acosta's business in his absence.
Basford said Acosta was loved by everyone who met him and never missed a party with his friends.
“He had a heart as big as the world,” Basford said. “He'd give you the shirt off his back.”
July sequences
• July 2 - University Police contact Columbia Police Department for assistance with recovering human remains found in the wooded area behind Rock Quarry Road.
• July 5 - Medical Examiner's Office begins autopsy investigations.
