The identity of a woman found dismembered in a Georgia landfill last month has been confirmed, authorities said.
Courtney Nicole Dubois, 20, of West Virginia, was initially identified late last month by distinctive tattoos on her chest and shoulder blades. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations has since confirmed her identity through dental records, according to the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office.
“This is an important step in the investigative process and allows law enforcement to focus specifically on Courtney Dubois from this point and going forward,” Sheriff Clark Millsap said in a statement released Wednesday.
Dubois’ body was found in a landfill in Bartow County on Aug. 13. Her remains were found scattered about inside several individual bags, authorities said.
“I’ve been doing this 35 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Millsap told reporters at the time, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Days after the gruesome discovery, Millsap said the body parts were stuffed into bags and left in a container at the Cedar Creek Collection Center in Cartersville. That container was later taken to the Bartow County landfill, where a sanitation worker discovered one of the body parts.
Authorities were still trying to determine the woman’s cause of death, Millsap said last month.
“Because of the way it happened and the dismemberment, it’s a very disturbing case,” Millsap told reporters.