UPDATE: A release from the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office on Friday said investigators identified the skeletal remains as 62-year-old Gwen Jenell Collins of Gibsonville, N.C.

According to the sheriff’s office, Collins was reported missing on August 9, 2024, after she was last seen near her home on Bellflower Road in Guilford County.

Below is the original story, which was published on Sunday, Sep. 22.

A kayaker along the Haw River in Chatham County made a macabre discovery over the weekend: human skeletal remains.

A release from the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday detailed the incident, with the human bones found along the riverbank — with a spokesperson for the office confirming to Chapelboro the remains were found in the stretch near Chicken Bridge Road. After receiving the report around 6 p.m. on Saturday, sheriff’s office employees searched the area that evening and Sunday morning, using the help of several other agencies to confirm the discovery and find additional bones.

The release said cadaver dogs from the Nash County Sheriff’s Office were used, as well as staff with the Chatham County Emergency Management Department, the water rescue team of the North Chatham Fire Department, and the Medical Examiner. The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office described each group as providing “vital assistance” to the search.

Next steps include the Medical Examiner working to identify the remains and determine the cause of death, according to the sheriff’s office. The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being made available to the public as of Sunday evening.

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