Remains Found In PA Home ID'd As Man Missing Since 2012

TOBYHANNA, PA — Human remains found at a home in Dreher Township Tuesday morning have been identified as those of a Tobyhanna man who has been missing since August 2012, the Wayne County Coroner's Office said in a news release Thursday.

The remains of Stephen Lepore were unearthed on the property of a home on Peet Road, officials said. A forensics team and coroner's office went to the scene the following day to recover the remains.

"From the beginning of this investigation, law enforcement believed the identity of the skeletal remains to be that of Stephen C. Lepore," officials wrote.

Lepore's cause of death is listed as a gunshot wound to the head and his manner of death has been ruled a homicide, the coroner said.

An affidavit obtained by the Pocono Record states that a relative of the property owner informed police that Lepore's remains were on the property.