KNOTTS ISLAND, N.C. (WAVY) — The sister of a Virginia Beach man who went missing last July and whose remains were recently found in North Carolina said their family keeps having to relive what happened as they continue to mourn his death.

The human skeletal remains of a Virginia Beach man reported missing from Knotts Island last July were found in a drainage canal in Pasquotank County near the Perquimans County line and have been positively identified, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday.

The North Carolina State Crime Laboratory confirmed that the remains belonged to Martrell Andre Lamar, 42, who had been reported missing by the Currituck County Sheriff’s Office and had last been seen July 2 in Knotts Island while walking to a convenience story, according to the sheriff’s office.

10 On Your Side has reached out to the Medical Examiner’s Office for the exact cause of death and are waiting to hear back.

Ashley Walton, 35, was arrested in connection to the incident back in November 2024. A second person, Antwaine Branch, 35, has also been arrested and charged in this incident.

“Nobody wins in this situation,” said Lamar’s sister, Kanisha Harris. “My brother didn’t deserve it. … I love him, and I miss him dearly.”

Walton was accused of helping conceal Lamar’s body. She said the two had gotten in an argument July 2, and that was the last time she had seen him. Phone records, though, showed the two of them at the Pungo Ferry Bridge in Virginia Beach the night he vanished, according to court records.

“It’s just hard because we have to keep going through this,” Harris said.

In the weeks that followed, a vigil organized by community activist Japharii Jones was held to support recovery and search efforts.

“Walton actually came to that vigil and disrupted the family, upsetting them so much that they shut it down,” Jones said. “She seemed belligerent, possibly under the influence. It was just very, very upsetting.”

Court documents indicate that Lamar’s body was loaded into Walton’s car and taken to Knotts Island. Police found Walton’s car Nov. 13 in Chesapeake, and blood was detected in the trunk.

Walton has been charged with the concealment of a dead body and accessory after the fact to homicide in connection to Lamar’s disappearance.

Branch was charged in this incident with concealment of a dead body.

A hunter found Lamar’s human skeletal remains Dec. 2 in a drainage canal along Sandy Road in Pasquotank County and reported it to the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office, the State Bureau of Investigation said.

The remains were excavated and processed with help from the State Bureau of Investigation and the East Carolina University anthropology department.

The preliminary evaluation by the ECU anthropology department determined that the remains belonged to a Black man between the ages of 37 and 72, most likely in his 40s, and standing between 5-foot-6 and 6-feet tall, the State Bureau of Investigation said. Biological samples were sent to the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory in Raleigh, along with comparison samples from family members of missing persons from northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.

The Virginia Beach Police Department is leading the ongoing investigation and any prosecutions related to the case.

Court documents indicated that Walton had been Lamar’s girlfriend.

Anyone with more information on this case is asked to call the Virginia Beach Police Department Detective Bureau at 757-385-4101 or the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

“We’ll never see him smile again,” Harris said. “We’ll never see him. He doesn’t have any kids.”