Remains found in a rugged, remote area of Petit Jean State Park near Morrilton are those of Little Rock businessman John Glasgow, who has been missing for more than seven years, officials said Thursday.
Hikers found a skull on the mountainside about 5 p.m. Wednesday, triggering a search by about 25 law enforcement personnel. Speculation quickly arose that the skull belonged to Glasgow, who was the chief financial officer and vice president for CDI Contractors, a construction company founded in 1987 by close friends Bill Dillard and Bill Clark.
Officials did not release any details about how Glasgow may have died. However, his brother Roger Glasgow said at a Thursday afternoon news conference called by the family that he thinks his brother's death was the result of foul play.
Roger Glasgow said the skull was found at the bottom of a bluff, not near a road or on a trail. There was no evidence of blunt-force trauma on the skull, which is usually found after a fall from a high elevation or a physical assault, Roger Glasgow said.
No gun or other weapon was found at the site to indicate a suicide, Roger Glasgow added.
"Someone or something caused his death," Roger Glasgow said. "We have always suspected foul play was involved, and discovery of these remains strengthens this belief."
Conway County Sheriff Mike Smith said Thursday that the information Roger Glasgow released was largely speculation, but Smith confirmed the location of the body and said that no weapon, clothing nor other items have been recovered.
"We don't have any answers as to what happened to Mr. Glasgow," Smith said. "We've been working a missing-persons case since 2008, and that's what we're continuing to do at this point.
"If there's something that the medical examiner sees there that points us in a different direction, then we'll go in that direction. Right now, this is a recovery effort to bring the remains back to the family for closure."
Glasgow had been the only person reported missing in the state park who had not been located, the sheriff said. The remains were found within a mile of where Glasgow's vehicle was last seen parked at the time of his disappearance.
Glasgow, who was 45 at the time, was last seen leaving his Little Rock home in the early morning of Jan. 28, 2008. A tourist photo showed that by that afternoon, his SUV was parked outside Mather Lodge at the state park.
Roger Glasgow said at Thursday's news conference that his brother liked to hike occasionally but was not a "professional hiker" or a frequent visitor to Petit Jean State Park.
John Glasgow's widow, Melinda Glasgow, sat solemnly next to her brother-in-law at the news conference and was flanked by family members.
The site search -- which was called off just after noon Thursday because of rain -- produced more skeletal remains believed to be Glasgow's. The area is treacherous with steep cliffs, Smith said.
"It's very rocky and hilly with pretty good drop-offs. Even in normal conditions, a search like this is difficult. But now we've got the weather hindering us even more," Smith said.
John Glasgow's remains were identified by dental records the family had supplied to authorities at the time of his disappearance. State Crime Laboratory Director Kermit Channel said Thursday morning that officials had been hopeful that Glasgow's dental records would expedite the identification of the remains.
"When it comes to human remains, especially those exposed to environmental elements, the easiest, quickest way to get an identification is through dental records," Channel said.
If dental records had not been available, the remains would have been sent to the University of North Texas in Dallas for mitochondrial DNA testing -- which could have taken weeks or months to complete. Once a DNA test is complete, the results are entered into the missing-persons database in hope of a match, Channel said.
"Unfortunately, we have cases still unidentified, even though we have good material," he said.
Just before Glasgow's disappearance, tensions were high between John Glasgow and executives of Dillard's Inc., which at the time owned 50 percent of CDI Contractors.
When CDI co-founder Bill Clark died, Glasgow was among CDI executives including Clark's son, William Clark, who were poised to buy into the 50 percent of the company that had become available.
At the height of negotiations, however, Dillard's Inc. Chief Financial Officer James Freeman questioned Glasgow's accounting practices and a $300,000 bonus that he received. Auditors later said Glasgow had not done anything improper or illegal.
In a Jan. 25, 2008, draft letter to Bill Dillard, who was Dillard's CEO, that Melinda Glasgow provided to media after her husband's disappearance, John Glasgow referred to a Jan. 18 meeting with Dillard's executives in which he expressed extreme "hurt" at Freeman's accusations.
Ten days after the meeting, John Glasgow disappeared. He was officially declared dead at his family's request in 2011, three years later.
Roger Glasgow did not mention at Thursday's news conference the contentious events leading up to his brother's disappearance. He said he trusts that Smith and other law enforcement officers will conduct a good and thorough investigation.
"If there is a perpetrator that has caused this death, we want him found and be brought to justice," Roger Glasgow said. "We know law enforcement will do the very best job that they can."
He said the discovery of his brother's remains were the first piece of concrete evidence as to what happened to John Glasgow that the family has gotten in more than seven years.
"Speaking for the family, we feel both relief and a terrible sense of sadness. Relief that we now know where he is ... sadness that this event occurred, and sadness that something or someone caused this death," Roger Glasgow said.
Smith said it is his hope that the ongoing search will produce more evidence so they can "piece together what happened to Mr. Glasgow."
"We can only go with evidence that we have," Smith said. "It has been a long seven years for the family, and they deserve this closure, whatever that may be. We are going to do everything possible to give that to them."