Nick Wilson went missing 5 years ago. His mom Olivia Wilson and father John Wilson have been look for him ever since. Police opened a homicide investigation Tuesday after skeletal remains were found in an irrigation ditch and identified as those of a 10-year-old boy who disappeared from his suburban Phoenix home nearly 5 years ago.
At a news conference, Buckeye Detective Tamela Skaggs confirmed that remains found off of State Highway 85 earlier this month are those of Jesse Wilson. She said without knowing the cause of death, investigators don’t know if there was foul play at this time, but the case will be treated as a homicide.
“Any time we have a case with a dead body we will investigate that as a homicide,” she said.
She said police have yet to rule out any suspects.
Investigators don’t know how long Wilson’s remains were in the area near a state highway, or how they wound up there, Skaggs said. That area was searched in the summer of 2016, but was covered by water at the time.
It’s unclear how long Wilson’s remains were at the site, she said.
“There is the weather we have to consider and landscape, animal activity,” she said. “All those things come into play with that specific desert area.”