Partial human remains were found Thursday near a Border Patrol station on Castner Range, an area near Fort Bliss, Texas, that is open to the public.
The incident follows the discovery of another set of human remains on Fort Bliss land in January.
Post officials do not believe either set of remains belong to Pvt. Richard Halliday, an 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade soldier who went missing in July and has not been seen or heard from since.
“The determination on the set of remains from January hasn’t produced specific results, that case is still pending determination from the [Armed Forces Medical Examiner],” post spokeswoman Lt. Col. Allie Payne said in an email. “We are still tracking that investigation.”
The remains found this week are estimated to have been there for “quite some time, due to their condition,” a statement from Fort Bliss reads.
The remains were found in the mid-afternoon Thursday by a citizen walking in the area. The citizen then notified law enforcement and the Fort Bliss provost marshal office.
CID special agents assigned to the post were dispatched and investigated the scene in coordination with El Paso medical examiners, the release stated.
“The remains were discovered above ground and there is no evidence to indicate they had been buried,” the release reads. “The remains will be sent to the Armed Forces Medical Examiner at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware for identification.”
Fort Bliss officials don’t believe there is a danger to area residents or the community, according to the statement.
A previous set of human remains were found Jan. 10 at Fort Bliss’ McGregor Range Complex, off Highway 506, about three miles from another Border Patrol checkpoint, north of Orogrande, New Mexico.
A New Mexico game warden reported finding those remains while walking in the area. Those remains were believed to be more than a year old at the time of discovery but, again, have yet to be positively identified.
Kyle Rempfer was an editor and reporter who has covered combat operations, criminal cases, foreign military assistance and training accidents. Before entering journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Force Special Tactics and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq.
