Remains of Florida tourist discovered in Georgia woods two years after disappearance: FBI
The remains of a United Kingdom tourist who vanished nearly two-and-a-half years ago have been found in a privately owned wooded area in Georgia, the FBI said.
Alex Hodgson Doughty, 32, was reported missing in September 2022 and had been visiting Jacksonville, Florida, about 35 miles south of where the remains were found in Kingsland, Georgia, the FBI’s Jacksonville field office said in a release.
An FBI Evidence Response Team based in Jacksonville led the search when the remains were found on Feb. 4, the bureau said. It said the Medical Examiner’s Office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed the remains as Doughty’s.
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American authorities were first alerted to the U.K. citizen’s disappearance when his mother alerted police that she had not heard from her 32-year-old son during his travels in Florida.
An FBI spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the agency does not suspect foul play and no charges are expected.
The agency said they used geolocation data from Doughty’s phone, but it remains unclear why it took authorities over two years to pinpoint his remains.
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“While we had hoped to bring Mr. Doughty’s family better news, we are thankful to be able to provide them with some closure,” Special Agent in Charge Kristin Rehler said in the statement. “This discovery is the direct result of our partnerships and special agents from FBI Jacksonville’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST), who were relentless in their efforts to narrow down potential search locations.”
According to a missing persons report, Doughty was last seen at Bay Street Bar and Grill in Jacksonville around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2022. He was dropped off in a taxi to Kingsland an hour later.
His mother, Pamela Hodgson, wrote on his Facebook page in January 2023, “Alex has been missing now for four months. Please help find him. While there are still uncertainties in Alex’s disappearance… it is believed he stopped in Callahan and/or Fernandina, Fla., on this journey.”
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She added then that her son “hasn’t been in contact with his friends or family” since arriving in Florida and they “were extremely worried about him.”