Remains found in a Kansas neighborhood have been identified as missing Army veteran Ashley Meiss, according to a press release by Riley County Police Department Sergeant Daniel Bortnick.
“On Saturday October 13, 2018 at approximately 3:00 p.m., the Riley County Police Department received a call from a citizen reporting the discovery of possible human remains in the 300 block of North Park Road in Ogden,” Sgt. Bortnick said in the release.
Police say autopsy results show no indication of foul play. The cause of death has not been released, but the release says “no further information regarding this case is expected to be released to the public.”
As Dateline originally reported in June of this year, Ashley had moved back to Ogden, her hometown, in June of 2010 after serving over a year in Iraq as an Army police officer. She had been honorably discharged after becoming pregnant with her first-born child, a son.
Ashley, 31 at the time of her disappearance, was last seen at a bar in Ogden on May 18, 2018. Ashley was never seen again after leaving the bar, but police told Dateline she did make a brief call to a friend the next day.
“Ashley [called] an old Army friend of hers -- a female friend of hers -- and says she is feeling depressed and that it’s hard going through [her] divorce,” Ashley’s father Tom Lewis told Dateline in June, adding that Ashley did not say where she was or who she was with during that phone call.
Police began their investigation that day, May 19, after receiving calls from family and friends that Ashley was missing.
“We’ve interviewed anybody and everybody who has information to go along with this case. At this time, we don’t have anything to put her in a critical missing persons case,” Riley County Police Department Detective Steve Tucker told Dateline in June. He explained that being classified as a critical missing person would have require evidence that Ashley was putting either herself or someone else in danger.
“Initially we thought maybe she took off for a couple of weeks. Now it’s looking like that may not be the case,” Ashley’s father Tom told Dateline in June, adding that she would never leave her children. “Ashley’s world revolved around her children. More than anything, she wanted to be the best mother for them.”
Ashely’s brother Chris Lewis wrote a Facebook post Thursday acknowledging the news.
“So sad to share this news. Please pray for my family in this time of need,” her brother Chris wrote.
If you or someone you know is struggling with PTSD, please call 1-800-273-8255 or visit the Veterans section of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.