Kentucky National Guard soldier Pfc. Ryan K. Longnecker Missing Since August 6, 2007
19 year old Pfc. Ryan K. Longnecker went missing on August 6, 2007 
along with his two military-issued weapons.
Longnecker’s military-issued 9 mm pistol and M4 semiautomatic rifle were also unaccounted for, Sanders said. A search to find him was under way.
Longnecker’s unit has been training at Camp Shelby since early June, Sanders said. The troops will be headed to Iraq within the next two weeks.
After 6 months and still no sign of missing Pfc. Ryan K. Longnecker, the case has been turned over to the federal authorities and the US Marshals Service.
U.S. Marshals handling missing soldier case
Six months after a Kentucky National Guard soldier and two guns disappeared from a training base in Mississippi, military officials say they developed no leads and have turned the case over to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Pfc. Ryan K. Longnecker, 19, was training at Camp Shelby in south Mississippi for a mission in Iraq when he disappeared on Aug. 6, 2007, just two weeks before his unit deployed. Longnecker’s military-issued 9mm pistol and M4 rifle were also missing.
Col. Phil Miller, a spokesman for the Kentucky National Guard, said Friday that the search for Longnecker was being handled by investigators at Camp Shelby, a Mississippi Guard base that has been federally mobilized since 2004 to train troops for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.
UPDATE I: Body found at Shelby was though to be Pfc. Ryan K. Longnecker
The badly decomposed human remains found at Camp Shelby on Tuesday are those of a U.S. soldier, said Forrest County coroner Butch Benedict.
The remains were discovered Tuesday morning in a wooded area on the post, according to Lt. Col. Doril Sanders, public affairs officer at Shelby.
“(The remains) are the property of the U.S. government, (and) they got their own system,” Benedict said about the secrecy surrounding the investigation. He was called out early in the day to the site of the remains, but then ordered to leave when the military team arrived. Benedict said clothing discovered helped identify the remains as those of a soldier.
Speculation has been circulating as to whether the remains could be that of Pfc. Ryan K. Longnecker, who disappeared on Aug. 6, 2007, just two weeks shy of his deployment to Iraq. (Hat Tip: JA)