WASHINGTON — The human remains found February in a Germantown, Maryland, field have been identified as a Gaithersburg man who was reported missing last July, police said Wednesday.
The chief medical examiner’s office has identified the decedent as 57-year-old Michael Wayne Umberger. His family reported him missing to police in July 2017, Montgomery County police said.
On Feb. 26, a resident called police after he found what he believed to be human bones while walking in a field in the 12600 block of Great Seneca Highway in Germantown.
Police said the remains were not concealed nor in any type of grave. There were also “no obvious signs of trauma to the remains,” police added.
The cause of Umberger’s death is still under investigation.
When he was first reported missing last July, police said Umberger was last seen by hospital staff the morning of July 15, when he was released from Holy Cross Hospital in Germantown. He did not return home or contact his family since he was released from the hospital, police said.
Below is a map of the area near where his remains were found:
