MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- Family and friends of missing Nevada woman Caitlin Denison are hoping that remains found recently in Midland won’t be linked to the woman last seen five years ago. 

On December 30, 2022, the Midland Police Department began an investigation after possible human remains were found in the 1700 block of E Texas- investigators confirmed that the remains found were human and may have been in the area for an “extended period of time”. Then, on January 14, MPD investigators and Search One Rescue Team again canvassed the area and found more remains near the intersection of Illinois and Tilden Street.

It is unclear if the remains found belonged to one person, or two, but MPD said all located remains were taken to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office for identification. 

Caitlin’s loved ones, who submitted DNA for future comparison when she first went missing, said they reached out to MPD when they heard that remains had been found and were told that the identification process can take a long time. 

“We are hopeful none (of the remains) are Caitlin’s,” a spokesperson for a Facebook page dedicated to finding Caitlin said in a statement. 

And while the family is hoping to one day have “closure”, they are praying for a different outcome than what the news of a positive identification would bring. In an interview last October, Caitlin’s sister Rachael Denison said, “We just want her back home. I hope to God she comes home alive.”

Caitlin was just 19 when she boarded a plane headed for the Basin in January of 2018. She told her family she was heading to Midland with a man she met in Reno.

Loved ones said they received a call from Caitlin on January 10 of that year and that Caitlin said she was using the wi-fi at a Midland Walmart to make the call because she didn’t have service. During that phone call, Caitlin also reportedly told her family she was scared for her life. She’s not been heard from since. 

The blonde haired, blue-eyed woman is described as 5 feet tall and weighing 120 pounds. She has a tattoo on her left finger of an alien head and the letter “M.” She also has a Libra scale tattoo on her left forearm. In addition, she has two piercings on each side of her nose and a piercing on her bottom lip.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 432-694-TIPS. The first tip that helps solve the case will be worth a $2,500 cash reward.