Colbert County authorities say remains found in 2020 are those of a woman missing since August of 2020.

Sheriff Eric Balentine said today that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Alabama’s Department of Forensic Sciences have confirmed that remains found in November of 2020 are those of Courtney Vivian Staggs.

Staggs was last seen on Monday, Aug. 10, 2020 in the area of Irvine Street in Florence. She was 35 at the time of her disappearance. The remains were discovered by hunters off Jarman Lane, he said.

She was described as standing 5 feet 5 inches tall, with green eyes and brown hair, and was last seen wearing a black shirt and black leggings with sandals.

Balentine said authorities had been “looking for this phone call for some time.”

Balentine said investigators are working on finding a cause of death.

“We have some ideas about what happened, we have some statements, we have persons of interest. And we’re going to start going down the checklist and whittling some of these things out. Hopefully, we can apprehend and bring someone to justice on this case,” he said. “I can tell you the wheels are turning really fast now. It’s just been a waiting game until now.”