Cobb County

Remains found at home where Iraq War vet disappeared were human

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has learned testing on remains found Tuesday near where an Iraq war veteran disappeared in 2014 have come back as human.

The medical examiner told Channel 2's Tom Regan about results Wednesday morning.

Crews were in the Kennesaw neighborhood most of the day after a tip led police to a home on Farmbrook Trail.

Chase Massner, a father and husband, was 26 when he was reported missing in 2014.

Family members said he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had been treated for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I can only imagine how difficult it is to lose a loved one and not have any idea where they are and what happened to them," said Alicia Chilton, with the Cobb County Police Department. "The most important thing right now is that we want to identify what we collected."

Neighbors say the last 24 hours have been truly strange for people who live nearby.

“As a mother I can't imagine being in that situation,” mother Maureen Scott said. "My heart just breaks for his mother. As a mother of five girls, my heart aches for her.”

Scott said she and her husband, both army veterans, can also relate to Massner, who was discharged from the service in 2011.

“My husband and I both have PTSD and were deployed, so I can totally relate to how he felt emotionally,” Scott said.

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Massner's friend, who formerly owned the home, reported him missing in March 2014.

A neighbor told Regan she spoke with that friend shortly after Massner vanished.

'He just told me that he had no idea where he went," neighbor Jackie Moen said. "That he went to a store, and when he came home, Chase was gone. He had no clue where he went."

Neighbors say cadaver sniffing dogs arrived on the property in June. Then Tuesday, police came with search warrants and dug up the ground under a concrete slab.

There they found the human remains.

'I think we are all in kind of disbelief,” Moen said. “I didn't know Chase, but I knew the homeowner and he was a very nice gentleman. We just didn't expect this to happen."

This will likely move into criminal investigation.

Cobb police says they're awaiting more information about the identity of the person and cause of death.