Remains Found in N.Y. Basement Belong to Woman Missing Since 1985

Skeletal remains that were found in a Poughkeepsie, N.Y., basement have been identified as JoAnn Nichols, a school teacher who disappeared in December of 1985, according to USA Today.

Three years prior to disappearing Nichols' only son drowned, leading police to investigate the possibility that Nichols had committed suicide. The case went cold and they were unable to find any new leads until a contractor came across a sealed container with Nichols' remains behind a false basement wall.

James Nichols Jr. had remained in the house that he and his wife had shared until he died in December. Dr. Kari Reiber, the county's medical examiner and acting health commissioner, told the Poughkeepsie Journal that Nichols' body had been placed into the container intact. Reiber said that the 55-year-old schoolteacher cause of death was "apparent" and "physical."

Reiber insisted that the body was undetectable since it was buried behind a false wall that was covered by piles of magazines and other hoarded items, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Described by neighbors as an "unemotional hoarder" James Nichols' did not appear to have many friends. The people who knew him best were staff members at the restaurants that James would frequent. Bill Emigh, former manager of the Ground Round Grill and Bar, described to the Poughkeepsie Journal the time he visited the Nichols' house.

"There were magazines and stuff everywhere," Emigh said. "Jim had a vintage camera collection. JoAnn had that Southern class, she had a sense of refinement to her, so Jim must have been the dominant one. Once she went missing, our restaurant staff....definitely suspected that he had something to do with it."

Allison Burns, a waitress at a Perkins restaurant where Nichols dined frequently, told the Poughkeepsie Journal that the restaurant staff was uneasy around him.

"He never mentioned he had a wife and only mentioned his son once, when I asked him if he had kids," Burns said. "Someone walked by his car, he had a camera and some pictures - he had apparently been taking pictures of the Perkins employees. I really do think he was asked to stop coming in after that."

According to Fox News, James Nichols was quoted in a Poughkeepsie Journal article from around the time of JoAnn's disappearance as being baffled by her disappearance.

"There's no reason to assume she's dead or alive, joined a group or run off with some other man," Nichols said. "There are a thousand possibilities. The pain is not knowing."