Human remains found probably those of missing American priest

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Honduran officials said they believe they've located the remains of a Jesuit American priest who disappeared during the government's campaign against leftists in the early 1980s.

Two sets of remains -- one of which is probably that of former Jesuit priest James Carney of St. Louis -- were uncovered in a common grave in the jungle region of Patuca on the border with Nicaragua, 185 miles west of the capital, Tegucigalpa, Attorney General spokesman Ricardo Castro said Tuesday.

"We are almost positive that one of the skeletons is that of Carney, but that will have to be confirmed by our forensic doctors," Castro said.

He did not say when the skeletons were uncovered, but said the remains were transferred to Tegucigalpa on Monday night. He did not say why officials believed the remains were Carney's.

"The remains are being very carefully studied ... and we will know the results soon," he said.

Carney arrived in Honduras in 1961 as a missionary shortly after ordination. He was expelled in 1979, accused of attempting to lead peasants in a revolt against the military government then in power.

In June 1983, Carney, then 58, left the Jesuits and traveled to Nicaragua, where he joined with leftist guerrillas and served as chaplain according to relatives and a fellow priest. He was captured by soldiers in September 1983 as he accompanied a column of 100 rebels across the border into Honduras. He was never heard from again.

Carney and former Green Beret David Valle Cruz were included among 185 people officially listed as missing after the Honduran government campaign against leftists.

Human rights activists claim that troops threw Carney out of a helicopter while flying over Patuca. Armed forces officials have suggested that he died of hunger in the jungle.

Castro said the second set of remains were thought to be those of either a woman or a boy who had accompanied Carney.