MONROEVILLE (KDKA) – Human remains, which were found Friday afternoon in Monroeville, have been identified.

According to the Medical Examiner’s Office, the remains have been identified as being 62-year-old Anthony Pataky.

“I felt bad,” Turtle Creek Police Chief Dale Kraeer said. “I wasn’t really surprised when it was ID’d as him because I was familiar with what had happened, but it’s terrible. I feel bad.”

Pataky had been missing since 2002.

“Being familiar with him, we looked into his background, did a search warrant for his finance records and such, couldn’t find anything,” Kraeer said. “After a few days, we did do a physical search. We involved a State police helicopter and we did search with a couple different K-9 outfits.”

The cause and manner of death are still pending.

The remains were discovered by workers from a company that had been subcontracted by Duquesne Light to remove trees and brush near power lines. They were found in a wooded area near the Wilmerding substation in Monroeville.

Police searched for him in the area where his remains were found before, but nothing turned up.

“At the time in July with the density of the woods and terrain, it was a little tough just to force a dog to go where he wanted to go,” Kraeer said. “So, there was no hit from a dog.”

The remains were initially believed to be an almost complete skeleton of a human male, including some teeth and clothing that was found with the skeleton.

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