A body found over a year ago, just north of Freer, has been identified as that of Michelle Justice.
Justice -- from Mount Pleasant, near Dallas -- vanished more than four years ago. She was last seen in June 2015 in Corpus Christi.
The Duval County Sheriff's Office said her remains were identified through DNA testing, but a cause of death was not determined.
Justice’s father, Sonny, contacted our news station to make us aware his years-long nightmare finally had come to an end.
There had been instances in which authorities thought Michelle Justice’s remains had been located, like in 2016 when a body was found on San José Island. But further examination always proved the body to be someone else, until now.
“We were sure that it was her,” Sonny Justice said in 2016. “Just because, well things that he said matched the time frame, and we were pretty sure it was her.”
But more for than his own knowledge, he needed to know for his 14-year-old granddaughter, Michelle’s daughter Madison, who he’s been raising since Michelle moved to Corpus Christi in 2014.
"We need to tell her something,” he said in 2016. “She just asked last week if she was ever going to see her mother again, because it was Mother's Day coming up, and the other kids at school was making gifts for their mothers and she didn't have anyone to make a gift to."
Her disappearance had been investigated by CCPD, Port Aransas police, Aransas county and the Texas Rangers.
