Missing man’s family believe skeletal remains are his

THE family of missing retiree Orville “Ashley” Richards is convinced that skeletal remains found last Friday at Deoraj Trace, off Penal Quinam Road, are his.

His family members said clothing found near the remains matched clothes Richards was wearing on June 12 when he left his Penal Quinam Road home at Mendez Village.

But the family will have to wait for the lengthy process of DNA testing to determine the identity and then cause of death.

Richards, 60, was the father of three daughters. He lived with his common-law-wife Lenore George, who reported him missing.

After a mental breakdown Richards suffered after his father died in 2012, he was put in a psychiatric ward and prescribed drugs they claimed “may have been playing with his mind.”

One relative called for a full investigation into his death, once DNA results confirm it is him.

“It is strange that the body was found in an area which the Hunters Association combed unsuccessfully, shortly after his disappearance.”

That search was suspended, but hunters from the area, who also belong to the association, discovered the remains in a spot previously searched, four months later.

“What is baffling us right now is, how did he get there after the hunters did so much searching in that area and found nothing? The body was found off the road which leads to a sawmill and houses.

“You tell me, if that body was there all the time, nobody came across it? Nobody smelled anything?

“This thing is so mysterious.”

The relative said although this is not the conclusion they were hoping for, they are sad Richards was not found alive, but happy that his remains were found so there could be some closure.