By Steve Neavling
The FBI has been searching for Roger Dale Parham for 25 years.
Turns out, the Arkansas man wanted for raping a minor in 1988 has been dead for at least two decades, wrapped in tire chains and anchored with a hydraulic jack in a Kentucky lake.
In May 1999, fishermen found the body, but authorities were unable to determine its identity until earlier this year, when state police partnered with the National Missing and Unidentified Person System and a private forensic lab to test the remains, ABC News reports.
“Through this testing, a relative of the unidentified person was located, which allowed investigators to identify the remains as Roger Dale Parham,” state police said in a statement.
Police have still not determined the cause of death, but state police have classified it as a homicide. The investigation is still underway.
Parham was 52 when he disappeared after he was arrested and charged with rape in November 1998. His body was found about six months later.
Less than a month after his body was found, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Prosecutors charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in September 1999.
At the time of his arrest, Parham did computer-related work and was described as “very charming.”
The FBI believed he had traveled to Mexico after fleeing Arkansas.
