Skeletal remains that were found last weekend at a Federal Way church have been identified as Brian Roy Barton, who was reported missing in 2005.

Volunteers at Evergreen Bible Chapel, 34030 21st Ave. SW, discovered the human bones July 29 while clearing brush on the property. Additional bones were recovered the following day by Federal Way detectives and King County search and rescue personnel.

Federal Way police report the church is located less than 1 mile from the apartment where Barton had been living.

Barton was initially reported missing by his girlfriend on March 10, 2005. Barton’s remains are still being examined by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office Forensic Anthropologist Unit, but there is no indication he died of foul play, according to Federal Way police.

Barton mysteriously disappeared without a trace at age 25, according to a website called The Charley Project, which profiles missing person cases. The site reports that all of Barton’s personal belongings were left behind at his apartment in the 1300 block of Southwest Campus Drive in Federal Way.

Aside from a sliding screen door that was off its track at the apartment, “nothing appeared to be amiss” and there was no activity on Barton’s bank accounts after he went missing, according to the site.

Barton had been performing with a punk rock band called As Fate Would Have It when he went missing, and the band had just been offered a record contract. Barton grew up in California and graduated from Buena Vista High School in 1997, according to The Charley Project.

Link to Charley Project site: www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/barton_brian.html.