A hunter walking through a Greenbank woods Oct. 12 discovered the skull of a Freeland man who had been missing nearly 19 years, the Island County Sheriff reported.

The next day, a team of searchers descended on the heavily wooden area in the 3300 block of Smugglers Cove Road to search for additional remains and other evidence. The searchers included deputies from the Island County Sheriff’s Office, the county coroner and members of Whidbey Search Dogs, Snohomish Search Dogs and German Shepherd Search Dogs of Washington.

The searchers found additional human bones along with a .38 caliber revolver, the sheriff’s office reported.

Using dental records, the coroner’s office identified the cranium as belonging to Carl Jesberg, a 49-year-old Lagoon Point resident.

Jesberg and his wife ran a successful window supply business.

Jesberg’s wife reported him missing on Dec, 23, 2000. According to a Whidbey News-Times story from 2001, she had gone on a holiday trip to the East Coast and expected him to fly out to meet her Dec. 21, but he never made the flight.

Jesberg had been arrested by the Washington State Patrol on suspicion of driving under the influence in the early morning of Dec. 21. He called his wife at 5 a.m. to explain he had missed the flight but did not tell her about the arrest, the story states.

Later that day, a neighbor saw him going in and out of a house on Lagoon Point. The sheriff’s office wasn’t able to trace his whereabouts after that point.

Jesberg’s wife returned home and received a letter from him that was postmarked Dec. 21; an investigator said at the time said it could be construed as a suicide note, the story states.

In 2001, several searches were conducted in areas where Jesberg was known to hike, including the area where the remains were located, the sheriff’s office reported.