Octavio Jones/Getty Images
- The national attention around the case of Gabby Petito led a search team to solve another missing person case.
- "The widespread news coverage of the Gabby Petito search helped bring light" to the case of Robert Lowery, officials said.
- A body fitting the description of Lowery's was found in the same Wyoming forest where Petito's remains were found.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
The national attention surrounding the disappearance and death of Gabby Petito led a search and rescue team to solve another missing person case in the same Wyoming national forest where Petito's body was discovered.
A body fitting the description of 46-year-old Texas man Robert "Bob" Lowery was found Tuesday by the Teton County Search and Rescue team at the base of Wyoming's Teton Pass after four hours of looking that day, the team said.
Lowery, a Houston resident, was last seen on August 20, according to officials.
"The widespread news coverage of the Gabby Petito search helped bring light to Lowery's case, and resulted in at least two members of the public calling local authorities this past weekend with new information about his possible last seen point," the search and rescue team said in a statement.
That new information, the search team said, placed Lowery on the Black Canyon Trail in the vast Bridger-Teton National Forest – where Petito's body was discovered on September 19, eight days after the 22-year-old woman was reported missing by her family.
According to the new details the search team received, Lowery was seen wearing a black baseball cap with a gold letter "P," and carrying a black duffle bag with the Nike logo.
"Given this new information," the team began a fresh search and "volunteers split into seven teams and combed the thick, timbered area surrounding Black Canyon, a popular hiking and mountain biking trail in the summer."
At about 1 p.m. Tuesday, a dog team located a body and black Nike duffle bag "significantly off-trail on a steep, wooded slope."
Volunteers removed the body from the mountainside Tuesday afternoon, the search and rescue team said.
The cause of death is not yet known and Lowery's family has been notified as authorities wait for confirmation that the remains are his.
"An investigation into Lowery's whereabouts had been ongoing within the Teton County Sheriff's Office, but new clues recently surfaced that prompted the [search and rescue] callout," officials said.
Meanwhile, Petito's death has been ruled a homicide and her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, has been named a person of interest in connection to the case.
Laundrie remains missing himself and is now the subject of a massive manhunt by authorities, including the FBI.