LUNENBURG — A body believed to be that of a man who had been missing from his Lunenburg home since August was discovered by a hiker Thursday afternoon.
The discovery ends a monthslong search for Robert Farrell, 48, who walked away from his Pratt Street home Aug. 2 and had not been heard from since.
Farrell’s sister, Janet Farrell of Myrtle Beach, S.C., said she received a call around 6 p.m. Thursday from a state trooper who told her the remains were being sent for an autopsy but there was a high level of certainty it was her brother.
She said she was told that clothing found with the remains fit the description of what Robert Farrell was last seen wearing when he disappeared.
Janet Farrell said her brother likely overdosed on the anti-anxiety drug Klonopin, an empty container for which she was told was found by the remains.
“It was kind of shocking. I didn’t expect that,” she said. “I just didn’t think he was going to kill himself.”
Tim Connolly, a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., confirmed Friday morning that a hiker found human remains in a wooded area off Reservoir Road near Lake Shirley. Connolly did not release the identity of the body.
“We do not have confirmation of the identity at this time,” he said.
Connolly could not confirm whether the remains were of a man or a woman, the rough age of the deceased, or how long the remains may have been there.
“The Medical Examiner’s Office has accepted the case, and they will examine the remains, but at this time we do not see anything suspicious about the body,” he said.
Connolly said the investigation is ongoing.
When Farrell disappeared eight months ago on Aug. 2, he slipped out of the Pratt Street home where he was staying with friends and left behind his wallet with all of his credit cards, disconnected his cellphone and left what appeared to be a suicide note.
A Facebook page, called Finding Bob Farrell, was created in which users could post any information that could have led to finding Farrell.
Janet Farrell said her brother had been very depressed at the time of his disappearance. A few years earlier, his girlfriend of eight years broke up with him and moved to Florida, she said.
The woman took their four biological sons, all under the age of 12, with her. She also took another son from an earlier relationship that Farrell had adopted. She would not let Farrell see the boys, said his sister.
Still, Janet Farrell said the family was holding out hope he would be found alive.
“He always had a girlfriend. He just couldn’t go very long at all without having a woman in his life,” she said. “I thought maybe he had met somebody and was staying with her.”
Janet Farrell is wishing now that she’d talked to her brother more and that she could have done something to stop him. She said she had not spoken to him for about 20 years until he contacted her four years ago. The two spoke for about five months before an argument led him to once again cut off contact, she said.
“I just wish we had reconnected. Maybe I could have done something. I feel guilty I hadn’t done more,” Janet Farrell said. “It’s too late now, there’s nothing I can do.”
Due to their estranged relationship, Farrell said she has never met her nephews, but hopes their mother will allow her to do so.
“I think he’s at peace now,” she said. “I think he’s with my father, whom he was very close with. I’m happy to think that he’d be with him.”
She said she will be in touch with local friends and family to organize a memorial service.
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