Wednesday's Internet Edition, March 10, 2010.

Remains discovered Dec. 17 have been identified as those of Seabolt, who was 18 when she was reported missing. She left her mother’s apartment on Aug. 31, 2002 to get a pack of cigarettes and was never seen again.

She would have turned 26 next month.

“There was always a small hope she would be back. Now there’s not,” Jessica Starcher, her younger sister by 13 months, said.

“She’s gone,” Starcher said. “But it opens up a new chapter.”

The remains were found by hunters in a pine thicket about 25 feet from the road in the Groundhog Ridge area near Creston in Wirt County, not far from the Roane and Calhoun county lines.

The state medical examiner’s office used dental records to identify the remains.

Sgt. Brad Snodgrass of the State Police detachment in Spencer said the remains would now be sent to the Smithsonian Institute for further examination.

“The identification stage is over,” Snodgrass said. “Now we’re at the stage of doing whatever reconstruction they can do to try and determine a possible cause of death and how long the remains had been there.”

Snodgrass said more than likely the body was in the same location for the entire seven years.

“I’m assuming it has, but we can’t say for sure until we get the results,” he said.

Snodgrass said the investigation was never closed, even after more than seven years.

Not long before the remains were discovered, Snodgrass said two persons who had been interviewed previously were questioned again about the case.

“It’s not like we stopped the investigation and we are going to go back and start again,” he said. “We never stopped investigating.”

Now that a body has been found and identified, Snodgrass said it could lead to more information.

“We’re hoping this might prompt someone to come forward,” he said.

Those with information can contact the Spencer detachment at 304-927-0950.

The family also holds out hope more answers will be found.

“Everybody says it’s closure, but it’s not,” Starcher said. “It’s opening something new. Now we may find out what happened and who did it.”