Human remains found on November 28 in Orcutt belong to missing Santa Maria man Ronald Dean Cox, it was announced on Wednesday afternoon by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner Bureau.
Cox, 46, was reported missing on May 23, 2003. At that time, the release noted, Sheriff’s investigators collected Cox’s toothbrush for use as a DNA sample, in accordance with protocol for cases in which a person has been missing for more than 30 days. That very toothbrush provided the DNA match that led authorities to declare that the remains – which were found specifically in the Orcutt Hill area south of Stubblefield Road – did, in fact, belong to Cox.