TBI: Skull found is Holly Bobo's

DECATURVILLE – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Monday night that the partial remains of missing nursing student Holly Bobo have been found. TBI Director Mark Gwyn and District Attorney General Matt Stowe made the announcement at a 10 p.m. news conference at the Decatur County Sheriff's Department. The development in the case came when two Benton County men found a human skull Sunday morning in the woods near a logging road adjacent to County Corner Road in northern Decatur County.

 Investigators sent the skull to the TBI forensics lab in Memphis. The lab determined Monday that the remains were Bobo's. Bobo, 20, was abducted from outside her Decatur County home in April 2011. Two men, Zach Adams and Jason Autry, were indicted earlier this year on charges that they kidnapped and murdered Bobo.

When Gwyn announced that her remains had been found, Holly's friend Rickey Dale Alexander bowed over in tears. "First, I would like to extend my condolences to the family and friends of Holly Bobo," Gwyn said. "In light of the recent discovery of possible human remains in Decatur County, the TBI has been able to confirm through the findings … that the remains are of Holly Bobo."

Cries broke out in the room. Gwyn said local law enforcement has worked tirelessly for more than three years to thoroughly follow leads and bring those responsible to justice. "It was my prayer, as well as the prayers of many others that Holly Bobo would be found," he said. "I assure you all this is not over by any means. The investigation is still ongoing to get to the truth."

Gwyn then turned the podium over to Stowe. "I've just come from a very difficult conversation with the Bobo family," Stowe said. "They will be issuing a statement tomorrow. I'm going to ask that everyone please respect their privacy until around noon or one o'clock tomorrow.

"After the kind of conversation I've just had, there's not a whole lot you can say, so I'm just going to say three things," Stowe said. "First of all, the TBI has been working exhaustively on this case for years. The evidence is voluminous. We are going through it right now. We are going to be continuing to follow up leads with the TBI and continuing to gather evidence and interview people.

"We are going to make sure that everyone who played a part in the heinous crime that has attacked the peace and dignity of the state of Tennessee faces a consequence for that," Stowe said.

He said the Bobo case is being analyzed as a possible death penalty case and that his office is ready and able to seek such a punishment. "We will be making a decision sometime in the next couple of weeks in conjunction with the Bobo family," Stowe said. "Right now, in the meantime, we have the finest experts we can find and that are available. There are so many people working on this case right now that it would boggle the mind, and nobody is sleeping, nobody needs to be told what to do in this case.

"We will get to the truth," he said. "If today is proof of anything, it is that you can delay justice, but you can't deny it." Stowe told The Jackson Sun in an interview last week that he and the TBI are still "actively looking" to bring charges against additional people, though they may not be murder charges. The TBI and local law enforcement said the investigation is ongoing and that more forensic work will be conducted in the case.

A forensic team — including people from the medical examiner's office in Memphis and forensic anthropologists from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville — is expected to arrive Tuesday to examine the area where the remains were found. The area includes almost 2,000 acres of uninhabited hardwoods or cut-over, said Cory Tubbs, who works at the Tubbs Sawmill about a half mile down County Corner Road.