A years-long wait for the identity of remains found behind a house on Leopold Lane in Elm Grove has ended – and two people who lived at that house have been charged with concealing a deceased human body, according to the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office.

The remains have been identified as those of Andrew Downs, a man reported as missing in Whitehall, Ohio in July 2021. Christopher Riley, a relative of Downs, and Sarah Riley, who both lived at the Leopold Lane house, have been charged with the felony. The two turned themselves in on Sept. 29 and each posted $15,000 bond.

According to the OCSO, on Jan. 2, 2023, the sheriff’s office received information from the Whitehall Police department that Downs had died and was buried behind a Leopold Lane home. The sheriff’s office got help from the Tyler County Search and Rescue Team, West Virginia Police Evidence Recovery Team and West Virginia Medical Examiner’s office to find and excavate a burial site that contained skeletal human remains.

Those remains were examined and tested by the state medical examiner’s office, Marshall University and the University of Tennessee. The testing confirmed the remains were Downs’.

“Skeletal remains sometimes take quite a while to get a positive identification on,” Ohio County Sheriff Nelson Croft said. “We had a great idea who he was and we had the suspects. We had everything wrapped up. It was just a matter of getting the positive ID from the medical examiner’s office.”

Croft said Monday that authorities could only speculate on the cause of death. There were no visible injuries on the skeletal remains, and a toxicology report could not be conducted.

The Ohio County Sheriff’s Office obtained felony warrants for Christopher Riley, 39, and Sarah Riley, 39, on Sept. 3, and the two turned themselves in 26 days later.

Croft said it was good to be able to move forward with the case with that positive identification.

“It gives everyone closure who was involved in the case,” Croft said, “the families and the investigating officers.”