Remains Found In Virginia Woods Confirmed To Be Boy Who Vanished In 2003

The remains of a 5-year-old boy who disappeared more than 20 years ago have been found.

Virginia’s Carroll County Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday that human remains discovered in a “wooded area” in Galax, Virginia, have been confirmed to be those of Logan Nathaniel Bowman.

The child’s remains were located last year inside a trash bag by a man who had recently bought the property, local news station WSLS reported . The remains had been there “for an extended period of time,” the sheriff’s office said.

Law enforcement partnered with a private forensic genealogy company to develop a “DNA profile” on the remains, which they were able to compare with DNA from Logan’s family members. 

When Logan went missing in 2003, his mother, Cynthia Davis, and her then-boyfriend, Dennis Schermerhorn, were both charged in connection to the case. Davis entered a plea deal to serve 15 years in prison and 15 years probation on homicide and child neglect charges, according to CNN . A judge dismissed a murder charge against Schermerhorn, though he was sentenced to a year in prison for one count of neglect.

The sheriff’s office said in its release that “new charges” are “anticipated” in the case.

Logan’s father, Wayne Bowman, told local news station WFXR that his son was “a good kid” and “a lot of people loved him.”

He also said he felt a sense of relief at the remains being found.

“I can go on, I know where he’s at now,” Bowman said. “I don’t have to worry where he’s at. I know it hurts, but it’s going to be OK. We have to go on, one day I will see him in heaven.”