Two sets of human remains were found over the weekend off Lookout Tower Road near Siloam Springs, according to the Benton County sheriff's office.
The area is about a mile and a half from where searchers in November found the vehicle of a missing Siloam Springs woman and her daughter, Chief Deputy Meyer Gilbert said.
No further details were provided. Gilbert said the remains have been sent to the state Crime Laboratory for an autopsy.
"We've got families involved," Gilbert said. "You have to be 100 percent sure what you've got before you release information."
Carol Davidson, 35, and her 22-month-old daughter, RoseMarry, were last seen on Veterans Day at a Siloam Springs recreational park. Davidson's 1999 Dodge Caravan was found a few days later on Lookout Tower Road, an isolated stretch running through the Lake Wedington section of the Ozark National Forest.
A baby bottle, a diaper bag, a box of keepsakes and documents and clothing for both people were inside the vehicle, Siloam Springs police said.
Gilbert said Davidson's family has been notified about the discovery, but he didn't provide details.
"Siloam Springs police have had a relationship with that family" since Davidson disappeared, Gilbert said. "Of course they were the first people I called."
A deer hunter found the first body Saturday evening, said Sgt. Shannon Jenkins, spokesman for the Benton County sheriff's office.
Approximately 50 people searched the area until dark Saturday before returning Sunday morning, Gilbert said. Meyer said search and rescue teams found the second body about 1 p.m. Sunday after crews started branching out from where the first body was found.
Multiple agencies were involved in Sunday's recovery, including the Washington County sheriff's office, Siloam Springs police, the FBI, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and several volunteers with dogs, Gilbert said. Crews were set up near Lookout Tower and Martin Pedro roads.
Before Davidson disappeared, she visited an Oklahoma state park for a holiday, police said. It was unclear why her vehicle was on Lookout Tower Road.
Holland Hayden, spokesman for Siloam Springs, referred questions to the Benton County sheriff's office.
Terri Russo, Davidson's sister, said last year the family was convinced someone forced or compelled Davidson to leave, though investigators haven't confirmed any reason for the woman and child's disappearance.
Russo didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on Sunday.
Washington County Circuit Court records show pieces of Davidson's life over the past decade. She was sentenced to three years' probation on a 2004 charge for possession of ecstasy. Two years later the court gave custody of one of her daughters to her mother, ruling Davidson was unfit because of methamphetamine use.
Michael Reed, RoseMarry's father, sued Davidson in late 2015 for custody of their daughter, claiming Davidson was a habitual alcohol abuser and had lived with him until her arrest for felony domestic battery in the presence of a child. She pleaded guilty after the charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor, and she was sentenced to one year of probation.
The court in August gave Davidson primary custody, and Reed received visitation rights. Hayden in November told the Siloam Springs Herald Leader that Reed and others had been questioned during the investigation into Davidson's disappearance.
In a series of Facebook posts last year, Russo said Davidson's three other children and the rest of the family were distraught about Davidson's absence, and that her father had to be hospitalized Dec. 9 because of stress.
"Every time the phone rings we all dart to the phone praying that it's Carol," Russo wrote Nov. 27. She added on Dec. 29: "Carol we won't give up on you or RoseMarry. ... We will find you and RoseMarry and bring you home where you belong."
Information for this article was contributed by Dan Holtmeyer of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 02/20/2017