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LEICESTER, N.C., March 21 (UPI) -- Forensic analysis is being used to determine if human remains found in a North Carolina woodstove are those of missing Food Network Star finalist Cristie Schoen Codd and her husband Joseph. Robert Jason Owens, a contractor who worked at the couple's home in Leicester, has been arrested in connection with their disappearance.
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Concerned family members reported the Codds missing last Sunday after they could not reach them. Authorities have said their cars and dogs were at their home, but the couple were not.
Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan told CNN authorities were called to Owens' house Monday by someone reporting suspicious activity.
"[The caller] identified that someone had come out and very suspiciously had left things in a Dumpster," Duncan said. "We responded and were able to locate items that we knew belonged to Cristie Schoen Codd."
After Owens confessed to stealing items from the victims' home, a warrant was obtained to search Owens' house where human remains were discovered on the premises.
"Parts of those were recovered from a woodstove at that residence," Duncan said, adding tests are being conducted on the remains to see if they belong to the Codds.
Owens' wife also told investigators her husband confessed to killing Joseph Codd.
