Human remains identified as missing Summerfield man Harry Lee Willard

What began as a wooded-area discovery off Price Mill Road ended with a painful answer for a Summerfield family that had waited more than a year. Human remains found near Millstone Drive were identified April 22 as those of Harry Lee Willard, the missing Summerfield man who had last been seen in late 2024.

Rockingham County deputies were first contacted April 16 after a person who lived nearby, and was walking in the area, came across the remains in woods near the 100 block of Millstone Drive, off Price Mill Road in Summerfield. Authorities said the body was found about 10 to 15 yards into the woods, with clothing still with the remains. Officials also said the remains appeared to have been there for some time, with parts already in the skeleton phase.

The North Carolina State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed the identification to investigators on April 22. Willard had last been seen on Dec. 23, 2024, and was reported missing on Jan. 7, 2025. Before the identification, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office had publicly sought help locating him and said he had last been seen on foot in the area of Angel Road in Madison.

Sheriff Sam Page said the case was being treated as a death investigation and a potential crime scene. Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of death and whether foul play was involved, while the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation assisted the case. Deputies also called in cadaver dogs, FBI agents and forensic specialists as they worked the scene and recovered evidence.

As of April 29, the sheriff’s office said it was still waiting for official investigative reports from the medical examiner’s office. The discovery carried particular weight in Summerfield and the northern part of Guilford County, where Willard’s disappearance had lingered for months and where families have followed the case while hoping for answers that never came.

The remains case also came amid a separate discovery of human remains at Ruffin Rock Quarry on April 9, the second such finding in Rockingham County in eight days. Authorities said they had not linked the two cases.