Olivia Fowler confirmed dead two years after going missing

The remains of a 26-year-old Georgia mother of three have been positively identified using DNA technology — more than two years after she was last seen walking along a rural trail.

Olivia Samantha Fowler was reported missing to the Meriwether County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 14, 2021, a day after her last sighting about 10:30 a.m. on Pebblebrook Road outside the town of Manchester, officials said.

Investigators acting on a tip discovered human remains on Dec. 16, 2022 and sent them to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab, which shared samples with the FBI.

Officials announced Tuesday that the remains were positively identified.

Officers “met with and notified the immediate family members of Olivia Samantha Fowler that the remains recovered in December 2022 were in fact Olivia as they were verified through DNA testing,” Sheriff Chuck Smith said.

“Although the outcome of the disappearance of Olivia Samantha Fowler is not what any of the family or law enforcement wanted, this investigation remains active and on-going,” he wrote.

“This case will now be classified from a missing person case to a death investigation.”

The update did not give any suggestions on how the mom died, and if it was being treated as suspicious. “There is still much evidence to be analyzed and processed,” the sheriff said.

Fowler’s aunt Tamara McCoy said her niece was reported missing after seeing a man she had been dating, 11Alive reported, adding that authorities have not named a suspect.

McCoy, who organized “Olivia’s Army” for the search, told Fox 5 Atlanta in September 2021 that “Olivia wouldn’t go 40 days without reaching out to her family.”

The aunt told 11Alive that year that Fowler was a “great mother with the biggest heart,” adding: “Olivia loves family — loves, loves, loves her family.”

In his statement, the sheriff said that the family has requested time to grieve.

“The family would like the public to know that Olivia was not only a mother, but a daughter, a sister, a grandchild, and an important member of the Fowler family,” Smith wrote.