John McNamee's remains were found in Jacksonville, Florida during a private search on Saturday, July 9, his family has confirmed.
"During this search, the remains of our beloved John were located," McNamee's family confirmed in a statement on Wednesday, July 13.
The family said Withlacoochee Regional Search and Rescue Team (Ocala, Marion County) along with Chief Samuel J. Matychak, took Independent HRD (Human Remains Detection) Dogs Handlers Stephanie and David Hollingsworth (Live Oak), First Response Search Team HRD Dog Handlers Tjasa Landes and Juli Wilkison (Tallahassee), Florida Search & Rescue (volunteers around in Florida), and volunteers of Set Free Church Jacksonville to assist in the private search of the area where McNamee's pick up truck was found on May 26.
“We are truly grateful to those who all helped in finding John and for enabling us to bring him home," the statement said.
“Thank you to Jacksonville Sheriff's Office for all their help and assistance during these difficult weeks.
“Thank you to everyone who assisted us by sharing information, posting flyers, or who helped in any way. We will never have enough words to describe how grateful we are.
“As a family, we are truly devastated on the passing of our beloved John and we ask for privacy and space at this time to allow us to grieve.”
In a further statement to Belfast Live on Wednesday, McNamee's family said: "John was a hard-working man for his two kids and his family they are going to miss him so much. This is a major loss to our family that was very close to him.
"Our hearts go out to all the families that are searching for missing people, and many of those that joined the search for John were people like that.
"The private search groups that helped us were volunteers that came from several areas and we are just so grateful to have had their support at this time.
"Thank you to our local MP Michelle Gildernew and MLA Linda Dillon for their assistance, as well as the Irish embassy."
In June, several members of McNamee's family flew to Florida from Ireland to assist in the search. "This is totally out of character for John," his family said at the time, "he is always in contact with family at least 3 or 4 times a week."
Police say the cause of McNamee's death is undetermined at this time, First Coast News reported on Wednesday.
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