Police say the human remains found in the woods in Paradise are those of Trevor Hamlyn, a man who had been missing for more than four years. At a press conference Wednesday morning, Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Const. James Cadigan said Hamiln’s bones were found on the ground Monday off a trail by a man walking a dog in the area of Three Island Pond Road. Cadigan said it was too early for police to speculate on how Hamlyn died or how long his remains had been at the scene. “With the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, they will call upon the expertise of an anthropologist and an archaeologist to help them determine the cause of death,” he said. Hamlyn, known as “Pepsi,” was last seen on June 16, 2018, at his home in Paradise. Three days later his family reported him missing. He was 33 when he disappeared without a trace, leading to years of extensive investigation by police and family. Those searches turned up little — an old iPhone, some video — but the police investigation remained active. The RNC had asked people to be on the lookout in the area for two items Hamlyn had when he left his home — a bottle of Jameson whiskey and a Big 8 ginger ale. Cadigan would not talk about whether anything else was found with the remains of Hamlyn. Hamlyn’s family spent years keeping the case out of the public eye, at times expressing frustration at the pace of the police investigation. In a social media post shortly after the RNC press conference, Hamlyn’s sister Ashley Hamlyn said their family now has the closure they needed. “We no longer need to say he is missing or we don’t know where he is. We need to say goodbye the right way,” he wrote. Hamyln thanked, among others, the police and the Rovers Search and Rescue team for their continued search efforts, and their friends and family for years of love and support. She said they don’t have details on her brother’s cause of death, “but for now it’s OK as we can let Trevor rest.” Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
