Remains found in Patterson likely those of man missing since 2010, police say

• Human remains were found off Maple Avenue on Saturday morning
• A search of the area turned up a bicycle and identification belonging to Gabriel Lopez-Duarte
• Man%27s family said he has a wife and mother in Guatamala and is a father of three children

PATTERSON – Human remains discovered Saturday in woods off Maple Avenue were tentatively identified Monday as those of Gabriel Lopez-Duarte, an area man missing for nearly four years, authorities said.

The identification of Lopez-Duarte — which investigators said is still pending DNA analysis — came after a search of the area where the remains were found turned up the bicycle he is believed to have been riding when he went missing in late September 2010. Also found was the 39-year-old's identification, state troopers said.

Isaias Lopez, the missing man's brother who initially reported the disappearance, said Monday that Lopez-Duarte had immigrated to the United States from Guatemala around 2009, but he had also lived in the United States for periods of time in the 1990s.

Lopez said he had had some contact with state police about the case Monday, but he still had no idea how his brother may have died.

Hugo Lopez, the missing man's 16-year-old nephew, said his uncle has a wife and mother in Guatemala and that discussing the disappearance has been difficult over the last four years. The latest break in the case has done little to change that, he said.

"It's sad," Lopez said. "I don't like talking about it. I don't really like the topic."

The remains were found about 9:15 a.m. Saturday about 500 feet east of Maple Avenue by locals clearing the woods, police said

The area is less than a mile from the Locust Street home Lopez-Duarte shared with his brother's family; Hugo Lopez said he has passed the street countless times since his uncle's disappearance while on the way to play basketball or soccer at a nearby park.

State police investigators believed almost immediately that the remains were human and began to comb through the case files of local missing persons.

According to missingin.org, a website that tracks unsolved disappearances, Lopez-Duarte went missing on Sept. 29, 2010, after riding off on a 10-speed bicycle without telling anyone where he was going. The man, believed to have been wearing a blue shirt, tan pants and dress shoes when he disappeared, is listed at about 170 pounds and 5 feet, 6 inches tall. He had black hair, brown eyes, and a "lazy" left eye.

Whether Lopez-Duarte's disappearance was the result of any criminality was not yet clear Monday. State police said a cause of death had not yet been determined.

Anyone with any information on the case is urged to contact the New York State Police Brewster Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 845-279-8656.

Twitter: @JORourkeT800