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Missing persons case solved 29 years later in Volusia County, deputies say

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Human bones discovered in 2015 helped solve a missing-persons case dating back to 1988, Volusia County deputies said on Friday.

Bruno Van Bavel, who had Alzheimer’s disease, wandered away from his Oak Hill home on County Line Road and no one ever saw him again, deputies said.

A man clearing some brush on vacant land off of Reed Grove Road in Oak Hill found what he believed was a human skull in August 2015, deputies said.  A leg bone and other remains were later found in the area and were shipped off to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification to be examined, deputies said.

Van Bavel lived about 2 miles from where the bones were found.

Investigators believed the remains were those of Van Bavel, and a DNA sample from his son in South Florida later confirmed their suspicions.