CLEAR LAKE, S.D. (KWAT) – Investigators looking into the disappearance of a Watertown woman missing for 19 years say bones found in a well that was excavated earlier this month were NOT human remains.

Deuel County Sheriff Cory Borg said in a press release issued Monday that the remains were identified as deer or cattle bones.

The remains were dug up nearly 30 feet below ground level on November 3rd from a well at an abandoned farmstead northeast of Clear Lake.

They were identified through forensic testing done in South Dakota, and at a lab in Manhattan, Kansas.

Authorities were directed there through a tip into the disappearance of Pamela Dunn.

Dunn went missing from Watertown on December 10, 2001.

An acquaintance–David Asmussen–was convicted in October 2006 by a Codington County jury of kidnapping Dunn, and is serving a life prison sentence.

Borg says the search for Dunn continues, and authorities will follow up on any and all leads they receive.