Police: Remains are those of missing TN woman Holly Bobo

Human remains found Sunday have been confirmed as those of Holly Bobo, a 20-year-old nursing student who went missing in April 2011.

Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, held a news conference Monday announcing the discovery and DNA confirmation of Bobo's remains.

According to reports, two men looking for ginseng found a human skull. They were in a remote, wooded area in Decatur County, TN, approximately 110 miles east of Memphis.

Police and forensic experts continue to search the area for more of Holly's remains.

The site of the remains was not far from Bobo's home in the town of Parsons and only 10 miles from property owned by the family of Zachary Adams, who has been charged in Bobo's kidnapping and murder. Adams has pleaded not guilty.

A second man facing murder and kidnapping charges, Jason Autry, also has pleaded not guilty.

Two brothers, Jeffrey Kurt Pearcy and Mark Pearcy, also face charges of tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact in the case. Both men have said they are not guilty.

Bobo's brother told police that he saw a man dressed in camouflage leading Holly away into the woods between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. on April 13, 2011. Investigators and volunteers searched the woods and fields of the town for weeks looking for any clues or signs of Holly, but her remains were not immediately found.

Gwyn has said the Bobo investigation has been the most expensive and exhaustive in TBI history, and is not over yet.

Since Bobo disappeared, the small town of Parsons and surrounding areas in West Tennessee tried to support the family, putting up pink ribbons on lamp posts, mailboxes and storefronts. Bobo was wearing a pink shirt and carrying a pink purse before she disappeared.

Recently elected District Attorney Matt Stowe said his office was preparing to seek a possible death penalty in the case. A decision is expected in coming weeks, after he consults with the Bobo family, he said.

"The evidence is voluminous," Stowe said. "We are going to make sure that everyone who played a part in the heinous crime that has attacked the peace and dignity of the state of Tennessee faces a consequence for that."

Before the news conference Monday, the Bobo family was trying to remain calm and let authorities do their job, said their attorney, Steve Farese.

"You can imagine the emotional roller coaster that they've been on," Farese said.

The Bobo family issued statements Tuesday for the first time publicly since the announcement was made that the remains were in fact those of Holly. The statement was delivered by a spokesman for the Bobo family on behalf of Dana, Karen and Clint Bobo, and it read as follows:

Holly Lynn Bobo was a 20 year old nursing student at the University of Tennessee-Martin when she disappeared outside her family home on April 13, 2011.

Holly Lynn Bobo was a 20 year old nursing student at the University of Tennessee-Martin when she disappeared outside her family home on April 13, 2011.

"On behalf of Holly we would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. We will never understand the actions or the motives of those who took Holly from us. Those responsible will be afforded a trial. As an innocent victim Holly had no such right. Although in prison they can breathe and visit with loved ones, not Holly. We've lost a precious daughter...but those responsible have lost their souls. The family knows that Holly is in a better place. We hope that no family will have to experience what we have endured. The family has asked for privacy to grieve."