FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Remains found behind a Fayetteville home two weeks ago have been identified as a Fayetteville soldier last seen 12 years ago.

The state Medical Examiners Office confirmed the identity of the remains as those of Staff Sgt. Terry Lee Webb on Tuesday.

The remains were found March 31 in the back yard of a home on Catalpa Road. According to court documents, a federal prisoner named Richard Brewington told officials Webb was buried there.

"We can go on now because now we know. There's no more wondering where he's at. There's no more wondering," said Melvia Webb, the soldier's widow.

Webb was reported missing in July 1991. His vehicle was found abandoned a week later on July 19, 1991 on Hope Mills and Cumberland Roads.

At the time of his disappearance, Webb was 43 and was nine months from retiring from the Army.

Investigators say when they checked out Webb's Alden Road apartment, the door was open and the inside was ransacked. There were no leads.

"We were nowhere up until this point," said Capt. Bradley Chandler of the Fayetteville Police Department.

Fayetteville detectives are now conducting a homicide investigation. They will not say whether Brewington is a suspect.