Human remains found near where airman went missing

Unidentified human remains have been recovered in Guam near where a deployed 24-year-old airman stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base went missing Monday.

Airman Alec M. Dye, 24, from Mooresville, Indiana, deployed to Andersen Air Force Base from the local 2nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. He last was seen near Tarague Beach, a release from Barksdale said.

"Airman Dye is a valued member of our team and we are heartbroken over his absence," said Col. Kristin Goodwin, 2nd Bomb Wing commander. "While the search continues, our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family."

Late Wednesday, the base sent out a second release advising that searchers had found unidentified human remains near where Dye, a B-52 crew chief, had last been seen, but that base leaders continued to hope for his safety.

"This finding is significant, but the search for Airman Dye continues," Goodwin said. "He is a member of our family and not a moment goes by that we aren't looking, searching and hoping that we find Alec."

Base leadership is in contact with Dye's family in Indiana and is offering grief counseling to personnel through the base's chaplain corps.

The Guam Police Department Marine Unit, U.S. Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Two-Five, Guam Fire Rescue, Coast Guard Station Apra Harbor and the Coast Guard Cutter Washington are on scene conducting searches in and around the area on land and sea.

The search is set to continue through the night, and Sector Guam will develop plans for coordinating future search efforts, the release said.

According to The Pacific Daily News, The Times' sister paper on Guam, Dye has been missing since 4:45 a.m. Monday. The paper said it is still unknown what he Dye was doing at Tarague Beach before his disappearance.

PDN reported that Andersen Air Force Base security forces first reported Dye's absence to the U.S. Coast Guard, which in turn sought assistance from the local fire department.

Tuesday, rescue crews resumed the search at 8 a.m. along with 60 volunteers from Andersen Air Force Base.

Water-related disappearances and drownings are not uncommon on Guam. Tuesday, a tourist drowned there, as did an 8-year-old local girl Sunday. They marked the 15th and 16th drowning deaths of the year, PDN reported.

Bomb squadrons from Barksdale, as well as from sibling Air Force Global Strike Command units at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, regularly rotate to Andersen as part of the Air Force's continuous bomber presence in the western Pacific.

Barksdale's last headline event on Guam was the July 2008 loss of one of its deployed B-52 bombers, Louisiana Fire, and its crew, RAIDR-21. The crash in the Pacific Ocean waters off Guam killed five Barksdale fliers as well as a physician-colonel with Andersen's 36th Medical Group.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.