Human remains found in the Costa Rican jungle are believed to belong to Cody Dial, the 27-year-adventurer from Alaska who went missing nearly two years ago while on a solo hike in Central America. A local man found the body under a tree in the Corcovado jungle on the remote Osa Peninsula, at a location that is a three- to five-hour hike from the town of Dos Brazos. On May 19, 2016, the FBI contacted Dial’s parents, who, by viewing photographs, were able to identify a pair of shoes found near the body as most likely having belonged to their son.

As we reported in an exclusive feature ("Lost in the Jungle: The Search for Cody Dial" in the March 2015 Issue), Cody’s parents, Roman and Peggy, last heard from him on July 9, 2014 via an email sent from a café in Puerto Jiménez, the largest town in the Osa Peninsula. Dial wrote that he was about to head into the jungle on another trek. When he didn’t resurface, his parents notified the authorities. Dial’s father, Roman, a native Alaskan, biologist, and National Geographic Explorer, joined the 12-day search and rescue effort led by Costa Rican authorities. He also conducted his own, with the help of an Anchorage wilderness survival school.

The elder Dial’s efforts led him to suspect that his son was murdered. Roman Dial has since returned to the Osa Peninsula numerous times to investigate, which will become the topic of a six-part series Missing Dial, which premiered May 22 on the National Geographic Channel. Alaska Dispatch News reported that, according to Costa Rican police, the documentary had nothing to do with the "timing or discovery of the remains."

At the time of this writing, Roman Dial had arrived in Costa Rica to identify the body, and a team of forensic investigators began hiking into the Corcovado jungle to conduct an investigation and collect the remains. No arrests have been made.

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