Gwinnett Daily Post

Jason Roark

Almost exactly six years after his disappearance, the remains of a Snellville military veteran have been identified. Questions still remain, though, about how and why he wound up in Morgan County.

Morgan County Sheriff's Office spokesman Capt. Christopher Bish said Monday that a skull and other remains found there last year had been positively identified as those of Jason Michael Roark, a U.S. Army veteran reported missing on Nov. 9, 2006.

In May 2011, a human skull was uncovered by a dog in Morgan County -- its county seat of Madison more than 40 miles from Snellville -- and led authorities to more remains later that year. The samples were sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Bish said, then sent to the University of North Texas.

It was there that the match was confirmed, leaving authorities only to try and figure out why Roark was there and how he died.

Roark served two tours in Iraq while enlisted in the U.S. Army and had been treated for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after returning home. His 2000 Honda Accord was found at a Morgan County rest stop near Interstate 20 on Dec. 13, 2006, more than a month after he was first reported missing.

The University of Florida grad had no clear connection to the area, officials have said. He had last been seen around 11 a.m. on Nov. 9, on surveillance video from the Gwinnett Inn Motel in Lilburn.

Anyone with information about Roark's disappearance or death is asked to call the Morgan County Sheriff's Office tip line at 706-342-1000.