The ongoing case of Caitlin Hodges, the Crystal Lake woman who went missing last summer, has seen a grim development: her remains were identified this month in North Carolina. Hodges, 29, was reported missing to the Goldsboro Police Department on July 25, 2024, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Initially, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office uncovered human remains on December 10, 2024, which the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner did not initially attribute to Hodges.
However, after further examination and testing, the remains have been confirmed to be those of Hodges on April 8, the sheriff's office announced. Found in a wooded area on the outskirts of Goldsboro, which is approximately 60 miles southeast of Raleigh, this case has left the family fraught with devastation and unanswered questions. Reporting from ABC7 Chicago reveals the emotional toll on the family, who has been enduring the absence of Hodges through holidays and her 30th birthday which passed on April 14.
Jennifer Allio, Hodges' cousin, in a statement obtained by ABC7 Chicago, expressed the family's despair, saying, "We want an end to this for my family. It's been going on for too long." The investigation, still active, leaves Allio and her loved ones grappling with the circumstances surrounding Hodges' disappearance. Hodges had been visiting Goldsboro with her boyfriend, intending only a brief stay, when she vanished after supposedly leaving her boyfriend's mother's house in the middle of the day.
The family's fond memories of Hodges have been overshadowed by their grief. "Caitlin is my baby cousin. She was born ten years after us. She always got a lot of love. She was very special," Allio told ABC7 Chicago, further underlying the personal loss felt by those close to Hodges. The Wayne County Sheriff's Office confirmed Hodges' remains were discovered in the 900 block of Dollard Town Road. A skull and other remains were first found there last November, prompting a discovery of additional remains, including bones in the weeks following. The investigation by local authorities into Hodges' death is ongoing.
