Closure may be hard to come by for friends and family of a missing Druid Hills musician, even after law enforcement officials in Texas found what they believe are Steven Marchi's remains.
A spokesman for the Cooke County, Texas, Sheriff's Office expressed confidence Monday that the skull, jawbone and vertebrae found near a lake in rural Gainesville belong to Marchi, and that the circumstantial evidence is substantial.
But it's likely several questions related to Marchi's disappearance will never be answered -- the biggest one being why a 43-year-old musician with little disposable income would drive his truck halfway across the country and then walk four miles, in the middle of a record heat wave, to a private ranch to set up camp.
"It's definitely not the resolution I expected," said friend Kelly Hagen, who had assumed "something weird happened" to Marchi en route to an appointment the freelance massage therapist had scheduled on Aug. 12, when he was last seen in DeKalb County.
That night, Marchi told a friend he was heading out for a bit and would see him later, leaving his cell phone and guitar behind.
"I have real questions as to why he went there (to Texas), what he was aiming to do," Hagen said.
It appears all but certain the part-time troubadour was traveling alone. Security cameras captured Marchi, alone and under no apparent duress, in Meridian, Miss., and in Shreveport, La., his mother told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"Everything is so sketchy ... it doesn't make sense," Ginger Marchi said. "Where are we going to get proof of what happened to him with one vertebrae and a skull?"
Investigators have all but ruled out foul play because surveillance footage showed Marchi, alone, purchasing a tooth brush at the Walmart in Gainesville, about 1 1/2 hours north of Dallas, where he had parked his truck, said Chief Deputy Jim Carter of the Cooke County Sheriff’s Office.
The dark green Dodge Ram pick-up, which had been abandoned, was towed from that parking lot in early October, roughly two months after Marchi was reported missing in DeKalb.
"Looks like he went on a hike and never came back," Carter told the AJC.
The cause of death has yet to be determined, but Carter speculated Marchi either succumbed to dehydration or was bitten by a poisonous snake. Temperatures exceeded 100 degrees during a heat wave this summer, he said.
Deputies located Marchi's driver’s license, blood donor card, passport and a backpack containing the tooth brush he had just bought not far from the remains. Fresh coyote tracks were spotted nearby, Carter said.
Marchi's remains were sent to the University of North Texas for DNA analysis and positive identification, which could take several weeks.
While that process plays out, Marchi's loved ones grapple with the greater mystery.
"Why did he leave? Where was he going? Why was he [in Texas]?" Hagen said. "It doesn't add up."
About the Author
