Coroner: Tests confirm human remains found in Haralson belong to missing woman

HARALSON COUNTY, Ga. — Investigators have confirmed that the human remains recently found in Haralson County belong to a woman reported missing more than a year ago.

Testing by the GBI confirmed the remains discovered Oct. 17 were those of Jessica Victoria Earl, the Haralson County Coroner's Office said in a statement Saturday.

The Medical Examiner's office is still trying to determine the cause and manner of Earl's death, the coroner said.

"We ask that you continue to remember her family in prayer in the days and weeks to come," the coroner said.

Earl was last seen June 8, 2018, leaving a home on Little Circle near Tallapoosa.

Her disappearance led to multiple arrests and a reward being offered for information.

A human skull was found at a property on Mount Zion Church Road Oct. 17, which was where a tattered backpack and wallet were found weeks earlier, Haralson County Sheriff Eddie Mixon said in a news release at the time.

The backpack and wallet belonged to Earl.

Jeffery Seth Odom, 36, was named a person of interest in Earl's disappearance early in the investigation since Earl had been in a dispute with him when she left the home June 8, authorities said.

About a month after she disappeared, he was arrested on unrelated charges for failing to appear in court on felony charges and a count of theft by receiving a stolen vehicle.

Odom's mother, Deanna Ann Smith, 56, of Heflin, Alabama, was arrested days later in connection with the case. She was accused of leading investigators on a "goose chase," the sheriff's office said at the time.

"This case has been worked constantly for 16 months by my department, we have followed leads, conducted searches and so much more because we wanted to find her for her family," the sheriff's statement said.

Cox Media Group