Lauren Thompson was last heard from in January 2019, when she called 911 and said she was in a wooded area and someone was chasing her, police said.
Skeletal remains found this summer have been identified as belonging to Lauren Thompson, a Texas mother of three who vanished after calling 911 to say she was being chased in a wooded area.
Thompson made the emergency call on Jan. 10, 2019. She sounded confused and distressed, authorities said. Someone was chasing her, she told the dispatcher. But her cellphone died and law enforcement officers were not able to find her after tracing pings from her phone to an area near a rural road in Panola County, authorities said.
A work crew in the county reported to sheriff's deputies on July 27 that human remains had been found. The location of that discovery has not been publicly released.
Panola County Sheriff Cutter Clinton announced this week that forensic experts had identified the remains and they belonged to Thompson, who was 32 when she disappeared.
“Our office will be diligent on pursuing all relevant investigative leads,” Clinton told reporters. "Please keep the family of Lauren in your prayers."
Determining Thompson's cause of death is the phase in the ongoing investigation, authorities said.
Investigators have previously said there was no sign of criminal activity at the site where Thompson's remains were found.
Her parents, Torie and Greg Colvin, said they have myriad questions but very few answers in their daughter's disappearance and death.
They also said they dread having to tell their grandchildren that their missing mother is dead.
“The difficult part is how we are going to approach the children to disclose this information to them,” Greg Colvin told KLTV. "And for me, and I’m sure for Torie, too, looking into the eyes of a child is very emotional.”
His daughter, he said, "had a heart as big as Texas."
After the woman vanished, local and state officers conducted extensive ground and aerial searches, authorities said. Thompson's car was stuck in a ditch along the same road where her phone last pinged.
