Jade Mingus

KVUE-TV, Austin, Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — The case of a former Army specialist who escaped from federal supervision was closed Monday after officials said the sex offender's skull was found in a field two months ago.

The skull of Kevin Patrick Stoeser, 41, was discovered Sept. 8 when Carly, a 13-year-old dog that had escaped from a backyard overnight, returned with a pile of animal bones and a human skull. The skull appeared "weathered" and likely was there for some time, officials said.

Although police dogs searched areas nearby after the find, they did not recover additional human remains.

"The physical description of the human skull and where it was found sparked U.S. marshals' interest in the case because it was very similar to key facts concerning our fugitive investigation for Kevin Stoeser," Deputy U.S. Marshal John Clifton, the lead criminal investigator on the case, said in a statement.

Stoeser was added to the U.S. Marshals Service 15 Most Wanted fugitives list in May after running Oct. 24, 2013, from a halfway house in Del Valle, Texas, about 7 miles from Austin. At the time, staffers had confiscated a smartphone that he was not authorized to have and found more than two dozen images of scantily clad young girls.

He escaped when confronted and had a $25,000 bounty on his head.

"Top 15 fugitives are there for a reason. They are very hard to find," said U.S. Marshals Supervisory Deputy Hector Gomez.

"We didn't waste any time or effort in assembling the manpower and assembling the task force simply called 'Kevin Patrick Stoeser Task Force' to focus on him 24/7," Gomez said.

Stoeser was convicted in 2002 of numerous sex crimes, including sodomy, production of child pornography and forceable rape. He committed numerous sexual assaults against at least five girls ages 12 to 16 while stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, state and federal officials said.

At the time, Stoeser was sentenced to 13 years confinement in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and dishonorably discharged from the Army but was released from custody in 2011. He was returned six months later after violating his sex offender treatment instructions and was weeks away from completing his sentence when he fled.

The case made national news and was featured on CNN's The Hunt. The marshals offered a $25,000 dollar reward and thousands of tips came in.

However, it's thanks to Carly, Bonnie and Anthony Vin Klarek's pet golden retriever, this case is closed.

Stoeser's skull was sent to the University of North Texas for DNA testing, U.S. Marshal's Service officials said. On Nov. 5, based on those results, the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office determined that the skull was from Stoeser.

"I always wanted it (the skull) to be somebody that maybe she could have closure for some family, them finding remains. But now maybe it was closure for more than just a family, for more people," Bonnie Vin Klarek said.

The cause of Stoeser's death remains under investigation.The medical examiner said it's almost impossible to know when Stoeser died, but said the skull appeared to have been there for some time. Austin Police said a week after Stoeser disappeared the Halloween floods hit and it's possible he drowned.