Authorities in Florida on Wednesday found human remains believed to belong to a teenager who disappeared nearly 20 years ago.

Autumn Lane McClure, 16, of Ormond Beach, was last seen on May 10, 2004, when her boyfriend dropped her off at the Volusia Mall, according to a statement from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

On Wednesday afternoon, Investigators dug up a “suspected burial site” in the Ormond Beach area, and made the gruesome discovery, the statement said.

“Sheriff’s detectives continued to investigate the case in the nearly 20 years that followed, obtaining DNA from family members, re-interviewing friends and possible witnesses, and identifying a person of interest in 2021,” the sheriff’s office said. “That person died in May 2022, but the investigation continued.”

The possible discovery of the Mainland High School student’s body was not the conclusion his detectives wanted, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said Wednesday in a post on X. He added the investigation showed his agency cares about victims, whether from recent cases or from cases decades ago.

“Not the result anyone hoped for in 2004 or ever since, but I am very proud of the work that went into this discovery 20 years later,” Chitwood wrote. “At the very least we can say we never gave up on Autumn McClure’s case. Prayers and condolences to the family tonight.”

During a news conference Thursday, Chitwood told reporters that investigators were able to recover “99.9%” of the teenager’s remains. The medical examiner’s office should soon conclude the remains did in fact belong to McClure, Chitwood said. But he added that determining her cause of death may prove difficult.

As for person of interest eyed in the teen girl’s death: “The sad part is, he’ll never face in this world, for the evil that he perpetrated,” Chitwood said. “But sure enough, I’m hoping that God, when he took his last breath, on May 26 of 2022, that maybe he had a vision of where … he was headed.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com