The skeletal remains found on City Pond Road near Bob Williams Parkway may be David Lee Sheffield, a man from Atkin, South Carolina, wanted by the FBI for suspected child pornography and molestation.

“We have a possible lead we are following,” said Capt. Craig Treadwell of the Covington Police Department. “We’re in the process of getting dental records to see if we can get a match. If it isn’t [him], we move on to the next lead.”

The FBI theorizes that it may be Sheffield, whose car was found abandoned at the nearby America’s Best Inn in 2011. They had theorized that he might have committed suicide, “especially because they were hot on his trail,” Treadwell said.

A bleached-out skull had been discovered Monday by a surveyor working in the area. Covington police and firefighters, as well as the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) were called in, and a search was organized.

Searchers recovered a number of bones, a jaw, and leg and arm bones on Monday afternoon, Treadwell said. They also found a partially buried vest and boots.

Later, after excavating beneath the boot, searchers recovered a pair of glasses and a firearm.

Monday’s rain complicated the search, and Treadwell said pop-up tents had to be put up to protect evidence.

“We can’t positively say this is the guy [Sheffield],” Treadwell said. “Right now that is a theory that this may be our skeletal remains.”

He said the bones were in a condition that made finding any DNA impossible and that getting the dental records would be the best way to get a positive identification.