ID On Body Found In Bartow Landfill Confirmed (UPDATED)

CARTERSVILLE, GA — Dental records have confirmed that the body found last month at the Bartow County landfill is, as many in the community have speculated, the woman reported missing from West Virginia.

Bartow County Sheriff Clark Millsap confirmed to Patch that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner's Office has identified the remains as belonging to Courtney Nicole Dubois, 20.

"This is an important step in the investigative process and allows law enforcement to focus specifically on Courtney Dubois from this point and going forward," Millsap said.

The remains, which were cut into pieces and placed in bags, were left inside a container for a trash compactor at the site. They were found around 12:30 p.m. Aug. 13 by a Bartow County sanitation worker, the Bartow County Sheriff's Office previously said.

The sheriff's office released a sketch of what the woman may have looked like and photos of her tattoos to help generate information that could help solve the mystery of the victim's identity. Patch asked the sheriff if investigators have any idea how long Dubois has been deceased, but Millsap said that information is not available at this time.

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BCSO said Dubois was reported missing by the police department in Fairmont, West Virginia, a town located off Interstate 79 near the Pennsylvania border. Initial reports that the remains belonged to Dubois came out Monday morning when Bartow County Coroner Joel Guyton released her name to local and regional media outlets.

However, Guyton said her identity was "inadvertently released," and that local officials were waiting on the dental records to confirm that information. According to social media posts, people believed to be the victim's family members used Facebook to say that the remains belonged to Dubois at least a week before authorities formally confirmed the identity.

No additional details about the case have been released at this time. Return to Patch for updates.

Image via Bartow County Sheriff's Office