Apr. 10—Anthony E. Rodriguez, who was reported missing nearly eight years ago by his Exeter Township parents when he was 21, is no longer a missing person, investigators said Monday in revealing the discovery of his partial remains in a wooded area in the township.

The revelation during a press conference Monday afternoon at the Exeter Township Police Department doesn't end the mystery of what happened to Rodriguez, but it's a step toward bringing closure to his family, investigators said.

Rodriguez was reported missing May 13, 2015 when he was living in Reading. He was last seen alive three days earlier walking toward a wooded area in the Five Points section of the township near the Alsace Township border.

Police have never stopped investigating Rodriguez's disappearance, Detective Sgt. Rocco DeCamillo said, but the case has been handed off from one detective to another.

DeCamillo said he's the third supervisor to oversee the case — his predecessors all retired — and there have been four detectives actively working on the case.

It was initially hoped that Rodriguez would show up, DeCamillo said. After several years went by and there was still no trace of Rodriguez or his remains, detectives decided to take another look at the area where he was last seen.

There had been conflicting reports regarding the last sighting of Rodriguez, but in 2020 Detective Gregory Davis, who was the lead detective at the time, attempted to retrace the missing man's footsteps into the woods from the home where he had been working as a landscaper.

In 2020 two exhaustive searches were conducted with the help of Exeter Township Fire Department and regional human-remains search-and-recovery outfits equipped with cadaver-sniffing dogs. Near the end of the second search, Davis found two human femur bones on top of the soil about 20 yards apart.

"We had dogs up there that very day," DeCamillo said. "And it was at the end of the day that Detective Davis — who was promoted out of his position to sergeant — found both of the femurs in a wooded area."

The bones were sent to a laboratory for DNA extraction and analysis and were confirmed to be those of Rodriguez.

The bones were intact, and there was no indication that they were removed by a cutting tool.

Three subsequent searches were conducted in the wooded acreage surrounding the area where the bones were found, but no additional remains were found.

It took a few months for the match to be confirmed.

The current lead investigator. Detective Joseph Malone, said Davis took a fresh look at the case and was able to eliminate several theories about Rodriguez's disappearance.

Investigators said they have their own theories but wouldn't disclose them.

They said Rodriguez was alone when he walked away from the residence where he was working.

Police said they're investigating how he died but would not term it a homicide investigation. They're asking members of the public to provide any information that will help the investigation and bring closure to the family.

"We've been going strong with this case for a little over the last year with the help of the district attorney's detectives," DeCamillo.

Berks County Assistant District Attorney Justin Bodor joined Exeter investigators at the conference.

Besides county detectives, Exeter police have received assistance from the Berks County coroner's office and state police.

"We've been out there five times doing exhaustive searches," DeCamillo said. "The coroner's office has helped us with those."

With a new lead investigator on the case, police decided it was a good time to go public with the findings in the hopes that someone will provide information that brings full closure of the family.

Anyone with information is asked to call Exeter police at 610-779-1490. Tips also can be made via Crime Alert Berks County's anonymous tip line, 877-373-9913. Tips also can be sent via text, using the keyword "alert berks," to 847411.