CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) – More than 40 years after a murder victim’s remains are found in Cape Girardeau County, a family in Texas can finally grieve and say goodbye.

The story is not a murder mystery.

The family of 26-year-old Everette Guy Travis knew he was killed back in 1977.

The man convicted of killing Travis died in prison years ago, but they never knew what really happened to him – until now.

It took skill, luck and a southeast Missouri college professor working alongside her students to find the answers, piece by piece.

On September 1 at 10 a.m., Cape Girardeau County investigators called retired Texas doctor Jim Travis to tell him they positively identified the remains of his brother.

“Hello. Travis here.”

“Hey, Mr. Travis. This is Lieutenant Sikes with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office. How are you doing this morning, sir?”

It’s a story Travis has waited more than half his life to hear.

“Well, it’s been an adventure in forgiveness for me,” Travis said during a Zoom call from his home outside of Dallas. “And healing for me. And reconciliation. And reuniting.”

Travis’ older brother, Everette Guy Travis, went by his middle name, Guy.

He disappeared from a stretch of I-55 south of Blytheville back in June 1977.

An Arkansas jury convicted Kenneth Derring in Travis’ murder, but his body was never found.

“It was hard,” Jim Travis said….