SHELBY, N.C. -- Shelby police spent the day investigating at a construction site after a human skull was found Tuesday afternoon.

Officers said they confirmed the bones found off Mitchell Street were human remains and had to secure the scene in order to return Wednesday because of Tuesday evening’s rain.

Investigators with the Shelby Police Department and the State Bureau of Investigation returned early Wednesday and began excavating the area. They said any skeletal remains found will be sent to the state medical examiner’s office so that medical examiners can try to identify them and determine a cause of death.

Investigators said they contacted four families of missing persons in the county to notify them that some remains had been found. At this point, they have no indication of to whom the remains belong, but the skull appears to be that of an adult.

Family members of Bubba Savage, who has been missing since 2004, gathered at a home near Boiling Springs and watched TV, hoping for new information on Wednesday.

His daughter, Katrina Mitchell, said news of the discovery made her speechless for a moment.

“I felt like someone just hit me in my guts because when they told me where it was, I felt like it was my dad,” she said.

Savage was last seen about three blocks from the spot where the skull was found. The then 74-year-old suffered from the early stages of dementia.

A plaque in Mitchell's home has her father's picture and the phrase "Missing but not forgotten." Her prayer was to find her father alive, but on Wednesday she said, “We need closure. We don't need to drag this out no longer.”

The answers could take a long time, said Shelby police Chief Jeff Ledford. He said there are no obvious clues about how the person died.

“The scene itself has to be done step by step by step,” he said.

He said Shelby has one other missing person. Rodney Whittenburg disappeared six years ago, miles away in Patterson Springs.

Savage disappeared on Nov. 9, and it may be almost five years to the day before his family members find out if those remains belong to him. Police said it will take days before they can get a positive ID match.

Cleveland County also has two high-profile missing person’s cases.

Asha Degree, a 9-year-old girl who disappeared nine years ago, and Mouy Tang, an older mentally handicapped woman who walked away from an assisted living facility. Both of them were last seen near Fallston.

Anyone who may have information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704-481-TIPS.