Sheriff: remains those of missing Missouri woman

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. — Authorities have confirmed skeletal remains found in a rural area in eastern Missouri were those of a woman who’s been missing since 2014.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the Ste. Genevieve Sheriff’s Office said Friday the skeletal remains found Tuesday have been confirmed as those of Lynn Messer.

The sheriff’s office said the identification was made by the St. Louis Medical Examiner’s Office. Officials said earlier it could take weeks to determine how she died.

The remains were found Tuesday night on the edge of her family’s 250-acre farm near Bloomsdale.

Messer was 52 when she disappeared in July 2014 from the home she shared with her husband, Kerry Messer, a Missouri lobbyist.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com