Skull found in Montgomery County belongs to missing woman

A skull found in Montgomery County is that of a woman missing since June 2016, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Andy Binder told KTVI-TV that a human skull was found on Saturday in nearby Montgomery County, not far from where the body of 50-year-old William Benhardt was found in June 2016. Authorities believe Benhardt shot himself.

Investigators say that around that same time, Bernhardt had argued with his wife, Sussette Benhardt, at a nursery they owned near Troy in Lincoln County, as they were going through a divorce. She hasn’t been seen since then.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in the release that a forsenic odontologist identified the remains as belonging to Sussette Benhardt on Wednesday. The office is continuing to lead a search for the rest of the missing skeletal remains.

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