Robert Wayne Bodmer dies in fatal Beaumont skeletal remains exhumation
Fatal Beaumont skeletal remains exhumation death of Robert Wayne Bodmer
In the city of Beaumont, law enforcement officials have officially confirmed that a discovered skull and other parts of a human skeleton, unearthed the previous year along Helbig Road, belong to a man named Robert Wayne Bodmer, aged 44. Bodmer was previously reported as missing from the Jasper County region. His relatives have been made aware of the identification, but the specific reasons for his disappearance and any details regarding how he died are still unknown.
A man reached out to authorities on December 7, leading to the exhumation process after he had kept a skull he found in that area, located in the 6200 block of Helbig Road, at his own home for more than a month without sharing this information.
Law enforcement from Hardin County informed KFDM on Friday, December 6, that this individual possessed a skull located in his property north of Kountze. Upon contacting him, officers visited his residence and allowed him to show them the skull. He stated that he had found it on October 29 in Beaumont.
The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Beaumont Police Department at approximately 6 p.m. on that Friday and arranged to transport the man to the Helbig Road location near Bennett in north Beaumont, where further human skeletal evidence was identified.
Beaumont Police and the Crime Lab returned to a wooded area behind the railway tracks the following day to examine the scene. They established a containment zone using a tent and crime scene barriers, carefully collected the remains, and employed a drone to record the area for investigative purposes.
The Jefferson County Crime Lab examined the evidence at the site.
Forensic analysis of the skull indicated potential surgical alterations on the right side of the head, and the individual likely endured considerable bodily harm, possibly including a head wound that was once wrapped.
The gathered skeletal parts were then sent to the well-known Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth for additional analysis.
According to The Charley Project, an entity dedicated to assisting in locating missing individuals, Bodmer was last observed in the Woodlawn Avenue area of Beaumont at 1:50 p.m. on February 14, 2020. The organization suggests he might have been attempting to secure transportation to Jasper. Since that time, there has been no further contact with Bodmer.
A family representative reached out to KFDM’s Taylor Justice, stating that Bodmer is survived by three children and a loving family. They expressed that he was a wonderful person with a strong sense of humor and a distinctive laugh. They conveyed their grief over his absence.
A family member stated, “We have achieved a sense of tranquility and resolution by returning him to his home after many years.”
