DNA testing confirms missing man’s remains found near jail

More than three years after a 67-year-old man went missing when he was released from the Montgomery County Jail, DNA testing confirmed that his skeletal remains were found in a thick wooded area across the street from the jail.

Layron Carey was booked into the jail on May 9, 2009, and released 13 days later. He was serving time for making a false report to a police officer. A few days passed, and family members reported that he had not been seen or heard from since that day.

His remains were discovered Aug. 8, 2012, behind a bail bond company's office at 101 Criminal Justice Drive, just a few hundred yards from the jail.

It's unclear how his body was overlooked by searchers, considering how close he was to where he was last seen.

Investigators believe Carey died of natural causes while attempting to take a shortcut through the wooded area. His last known address was an apartment in the 1900 block of Willowbend, less than two miles from the Montgomery County Jail.

Sgt. Dorcy Riddle with the Conroe Police Department said when a relative reported Carey missing, investigators began interviewing people in town about his whereabouts. Some made vague, unconfirmed reports that they had seen him since he was released.

At the same time, other reports indicated that he had gone to stay with a relative in Beaumont.

Riddle said there was never an active search with helicopters and dogs because there was no firm indication that Carey was "suspiciously missing."

Looking back, Riddle said, the reports from those who had claimed to have spotted him were unreliable.

"We didn't have leads as to where he was," she said. "Nobody we talked to positively saw him after he was released from jail."

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DNA testing confirms missing man's remains found near jail