Human remains found in Massachusetts have been identified as those of a missing Nantucket pregnant woman whose mysterious disappearance captured national headlines nearly two years ago.
Dental records confirmed that the skeletal remains were those of Trudie Hall, said Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe. He said she died of multiple gunshot wounds and ballistic evidence was recovered with the body.
"Though Trudie will never speak again, by finding her, she has told us much. Among other things, she has told us how many times she was shot and with what kind of bullets," O'Keefe said during a Tuesday press conference.
A dog walker found the remains on April 19 in a densely wooded area in East Falmouth. The location had not been explored during previous searches for Hall, but O'Keefe said the area had "been of interest in other aspects of the investigation."
Along with the skeletal remains, authorities recovered jewelry and other personal items that belonged to Hall. They also found bullet casings at the scene, but authorities have declined to comment on the number of times Hall was shot or the caliber of weapon that was used.
"For the last year and nine months it's been very hard. It's been very hard coping with not knowing where she is. I'm just happy I found her and can lay her to rest," Hall's mother, Vivienne Walker, told the Boston Herald.
Hall, a 23-year-old native of Jamaica, was last seen July 27, 2010, when she left her Nantucket home for a doctor's appointment scheduled for the next day on Cape Cod. Hall spent the night at Bayside Resort in West Yarmouth, but vanished sometime before her appointment, according to police.
At the time of her daughter's disappearance, Walker told The Huffington Post that it was out of character for her daughter to take off without notifying someone.
"She would never disappear like that," Walker said. "She was four months pregnant and that's the sad part."
According to Walker, her daughter came to the U.S. from Jamaica when she was 12. She attended high school in Nantucket, was very active in church and worked for a local bank.
The 2009 Toyota Avalon rental car Hall was driving was found abandoned in West Barnstable three days after she was reported missing. The location is roughly three miles from the facility where she had scheduled her appointment. Blood and bullet casings were found inside the vehicle.
Upon finding the vehicle, investigators launched an extensive ground and air search for Hall, but were unable to locate her.
In the weeks that followed Hall's disappearance, the Cape Cod Times uncovered probate records from Barnstable and Plymouth counties that showed Hall was married to two men. She married Doucet McDowe, 31, of Jamaica in April 2009 and Ram Rimal, 41, of Nepal roughly six months later, the newspaper reported.
In August 2010, Rimal's attorney, Michael Wilson, told the Boston Herald that his client was with Hall at the Bayside Resort in West Yarmouth on July 27, 2010 -- the day she was last seen alive.
"The last time he saw her was when he went to sleep at night," Wilson told the newspaper. "He didn't see her the next day, and doesn't know where she went."
Wilson said Rimal was not aware his wife might be married to another man, but did acknowledge that the child she was carrying was not his. "She told him she was pregnant with someone else's child," Wilson said.
A third man entered the picture in August 2010, when it was revealed that authorities had questioned a Centreville, Mass., married man named Quoizel Wilson. He is reportedly the father of Hall's unborn child.
On Tuesday, Quoizel Wilson's attorney, Rob Galibois, released a statement about Hall's death.
"Mr. Wilson was extensively interviewed by investigators at the outset of this matter," Galibois said. "The authorities searched the house, vehicles and a motorcycle. They seized numerous articles of clothing, paperwork and other items commonly found inside a household. After several months of retaining these items, the detectives returned the property at the direction of the District Attorney to Mr. Wilson."
"At the time of this investigation, Mr. Wilson was on probation and at no point did the Commonwealth seek to find Mr. Wilson in violation of his probation nor did the investigators file any charges against Mr. Wilson," Galibois continued. "Mr. Wilson has remained in this same area the entire time. Mr. Wilson maintains his vehement denial of any wrongdoing in regard to the tragic circumstances of Ms. Hall's death."
According to O'Keefe, no one has been ruled out as a suspect.
"We have interviewed a number of people all through the course of this and re-interviewed and will continue to do that," O'Keefe said Tuesday.
The district attorney also said that the person responsible for Hall's murder could face an additional murder charge for the death of her unborn child.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Massachusetts State Police at 508-790-5799.
READ ABOUT OTHER MISSING PERSON CASES:
