Remains Found amid Search for N.J. Father Who Disappeared in Louisiana Forest on Geocaching Trip

Robert Owens Jr. vanished shortly before he was expected to attend Cachefest in Tennessee, according to his daughter Gale Owens

Search crews in Louisiana uncovered human remains while searching for a missing New Jersey man who disappeared while on a "geocaching" trip in the southern state.

Robert Owens Jr., 58, of Millville, was reported missing on Monday, according to the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office (RPSO) in Louisiana. Deputies and another geocacher reportedly located a vehicle belonging to the missing man off Messina Road that same day but did not find the man in or near the car.

Human remains were discovered on Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time "in a densely wooded area near a creek" about a half mile from the trailhead on Messina Road, the sheriff's office said.

Detectives said clothing "and other physical characteristics" led them to believe the remains belonged to the missing geocacher.

The RPSO described geocaching as an outdoor activity in which participants use a GPS and navigational techniques "to hide and seek containers … at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world." The containers are called "geocaches" or "caches."

In a TikTok video posted Wednesday, Robert's daughter Gale Owens said the remains had been confirmed as her father's.

The Rapides Parish Coroner did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

"It's just so hard to wrap my head around it," Gale said on TikTok.

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Robert had "not been in contact with anyone" since July 9, according to a post shared on Gale's Facebook page. The young woman said her father traveled from Pennsylvania to Louisiana and planned to geocache some of the "oldest caches" in the area before heading to Cachefest in Tennessee.

Gale added on Facebook that her dad had sent a photo of a geocache in the Alexandria area of Louisiana to her aunt and signed the cache's log in person before the family lost contact with Robert. She believes her father's cell phone died on July 13 "because messages stopped saying delivered and calls didn't ring."

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The last time Robert's phone pinged, according to Gale, was around 9:30 p.m. local time on July 13 in the Missouri city of Louisiana, which she called "concerning."

"I thought it was a little weird," she said in a post on TikTok, adding, "I don't know how his phone could give a ping Thursday for being in Missouri when his car was found in Louisiana and he was not there. Like, he was not in the car or anywhere around it."

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In another pair of TikTok posts, Gale said she was told that Robert's rental car was found near the cache mentioned above in Louisiana and had likely been there for about eight days.

She added that the rental was reportedly determined to be Robert's after they found his geocaching tag in the window.

"I genuinely don't even know what to say," Gale wrote on Facebook after learning her father's body was found. "It breaks me trying to process this all. You were and still are the best dad you could be. You were more than the best."

An investigation into the case is ongoing, according to the sheriff's office.

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