Word came last Friday that the skeletal remains found in San Augustine County back in March have been identified as a Jacksonville woman who went missing nearly eight years ago.

Shunte Coleman had been missing since July 2006, and her skeletal remains were found by a forester in a thickly wooded area of San Augustine County, near the intersection of FM 1196 and County Road 347.

Coleman wasn't the only woman who mysteriously disappeared that year. Terri Reyes vanished shortly after, and her body was also found in San Augustine County in the Bannister Wildlife Management Area in the Angelina National Forest, just one month later after going missing.

Both women have ties to former Jacksonville police officer, Larry Pugh, who is reported to have lived and attended school in San Augustine. At the time, Pugh was being investigated on sexual assault charges, and both women were scheduled to testify against him. He later pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges and was sentenced to federal prison.

It's unclear if Pugh is being looked at as a possible suspect in Coleman or Reyes' deaths. He is set to be released from prison in 2018.

Coleman’s death is being investigated by the San Augustine County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Texas Rangers and FBI.

Shunte Coleman