It's a mystery that has haunted Grimes County for nearly four years.

Carlos Rodriguez Jr. went missing on October 4, 2004, now almost exactly four years to the day new clues may provide insight into his disappearance.

"It was as if he just vanished," Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said.

It's been four years since anyone has heard from Carlos Rodriguez. The then 18 year-old was last seen at his Grimes County house, but despite multiple leads investigators kept running into dead ends.

"That was always strange, why all these years no phone calls, birthday calls--nothing," Sowell said.

So on the anniversary month of his disappearance, investigators want to give one more look at an area of interest, the woods that begin just a few feet from Rodriguez's home.

The woods span hundreds of acres, that include thick brush, barbed wire, and several ravines.

"The whole area is wooded so you're looking at finding a needle in the haystack, trying to know where to look and what to look for," Sowell said.

News 3 was there as investigators stumbled upon that needle.

"Dale found a skull," one investigator said.

"We hear you, we're coming," another investigator replies.

Hours into the search authorities find what they've been looking for, a human skull. The discorvery is made about 200 yards into the woods.

"Coming through the thick woods here I glanced to my left and there it lay just out in the open," Dale Schaper said.

Minutes later....

"There are more bones over here," an investigator yells.

A pair of shorts, rifle, and bones are found just a few feet away.

"If this in fact is the individual we suspect it means closure for the family," Schaper said.

As investigators rope off the scene and gather up all the evidence, the Sheriff and his deputies deliver the news to the family.

"I had to tell them that we found what appears to be human remains," Sowell said "But I said it's not a match until it's a match."

The Sheriff's Office is stressing that remains have not been officially identified just yet.They say the Sheriff's Office is handling this case as a homicide case, until it's proven otherwise.

The remains will be sent off to a forensic lab in the Dallas area to positively I.D. the body and cause of death.

The Grimes County Sheriff's Office was able to identify another set of human remains found in Shiro just last week. The name of that individual has not been released.