Skeletal remains recovered last week in a cave near Llwyn-On reservoir in the Brecon Beacons have been identified as Jordan Moray, a 32-year-old from Cwmbach, Aberdare, whose disappearance in July 2019 prompted extensive searches and a multi-year police inquiry.
South Wales Police said a post-mortem examination had been carried out and that the death was not being treated as suspicious. Relatives said they had finally received some measure of closure but still want answers about how Moray, described by family and friends as a fit and experienced hillwalker, came to be in the location where his body was found and why he was not discovered earlier.
Moray vanished from his flat in Cwmbach on July 24, 2019. CCTV released by police showed him at a local shop about 11:26 a.m. that day buying a small bottle of water and what appeared to be a lottery game card; police have confirmed that footage as the last verified sighting. The family reported him missing on Aug. 2 after they were unable to contact him and a subsequent visit to his flat revealed the door unlocked, the television on standby, a PlayStation console running and his mobile phone charging, according to police and family accounts.
Friends and relatives have long said Moray left home wearing army-style camouflage clothing and carrying a rucksack containing packets of nuts, a tin of tuna and about £100 in bank notes. A family friend told media that the recovered remains were found alongside a survival kit and that a green T-shirt awarded to participants in a military-style 24km march known as the Fandance, which Moray had completed six weeks earlier, was recovered with the body.
The discovery was made by a walker a few hundred yards from a stretch of the national park where search teams had looked when Moray first disappeared in 2019. South Wales Police said the force had been updated and that next steps would include an inquest to establish the circumstances of his death.
Retired SAS soldier Jason Birch, who helped co-ordinate public search efforts at the time and organised military-style events that Moray attended, said he remained uneasy about unresolved questions. Birch told reporters that items at Moray's flat suggested he had left "in an immediate fashion," and that the presence of survival equipment would be inconsistent with a deliberate self-harm hypothesis. Birch also noted it took six years for the remains to be found despite the popularity of the reservoir area with walkers and anglers.
"If Jordan was a member of my family I would want more answers about his disappearance and why it took so long before he was found," Birch said. He added that he had organised volunteer search parties and set up a Facebook group that at one point included more than 6,000 members to assist police efforts.
Police previously said they had pursued multiple lines of inquiry, including the possibilities that Moray had been taken from his property, that he had left intending to harm himself, that he had been injured, or that he had chosen to live off-grid. Investigators released doorbell footage from Moray's brother that the family believed showed Moray at the property; officers said face-recognition technology could not be used on the footage because the person appeared to have camouflage paint on his face, though there was a perceived likeness.
Throughout the years-long search there were several unconfirmed sightings and leads. Ten weeks after Moray vanished, police received a letter from someone who said they had heard a voice shouting "If there's anyone out there, help me!" between 2 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. near the area of his home. In September 2020 a member of the public reported seeing a man they believed to be Moray about 100 miles away in Stratford-upon-Avon; the report suggested the man was living rough and planned to visit a brother, but that sighting was not confirmed.
Family members have described Moray as an experienced outdoorsman and a former Welsh champion boxer who regularly undertook long hikes. His mother, Debbie Moray, told media in 2022 that he loved the outdoor life and that she and other relatives had continued searching for him in the national park. She and others posted appeals and canvassed other areas where potential sightings had been reported.
Moray's brother, Josh, paid tribute on social media after police confirmed the identification, calling his sibling his "best friend" and saying the family could now lay him to rest. An aunt thanked the community for its support during the search and said the family felt "overwhelmed" by messages of condolence.
South Wales Police said they would update the coroner and pursue a formal inquest to establish the cause and circumstances of death. Investigating officers have urged anyone with information about Moray's movements in July 2019 or who may have been in the Brecon Beacons at the time to come forward.
The case prompted a large-scale local response when Moray first vanished, with specialist search teams, volunteers and offers of a financial reward. The discovery of his remains ends a six-year period of uncertainty for his family but leaves unanswered questions about his final movements and why the remains were not located during earlier searches. The coroner's inquest is expected to be the next formal forum to address those outstanding inquiries.