Found human remains may be those of missing 80-year old Mercer Co. man

MERCER, Pa. (AP) — State police say human remains found by a hunter in Mercer County over the weekend could be those of an 80-year-old man reported missing this summer.

That man, Donald Mariacher, was last seen July 13 in East Lackawannock Township.

Police say he was agoraphobic — or afraid to leave his house — though he had previously done just that three months earlier when he walked away with a wad of cash and was found lying in some roadside brush but, otherwise, unharmed.

The missing man's son, Mike Mariacher, tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that state troopers from the Mercer barracks called to tell him when the remains were found Saturday a half mile from his father's home.

Police say tests could take weeks to confirm the identity of the remains.