Family and friends will hold funeral services this weekend for an Armstrong Atlantic State University whose body and missing truck were found Tuesday after a three-month search.

The body of Bryce Tarter, a 19-year-old student missing since January 31, was found in his pickup truck, pulled from Savannah’s Hoover Creek on Tuesday afternoon. The truck was located in over 10 feet of water. Police had identified the truck as his, based on the plates and other markings, but had to rely on dental records to confirm that the body found inside was, in fact, his.

GBI agents, along with AASU personnel, met with Blake and Michaella Tarter to inform them of the dental and autopsy results, which were concluded late Wednesday. GBI special agent Micah Ward said toxicology and other lab tests would take longer to process.

“I wish we could have found him alive and well,” Ward said. “But at least we’re coming to an end.”

Tarter’s mother and father were on the scene Tuesday as police labored to recover the truck from the muddy creek bottom.

Ward said that with any case like this, their investigators would be very slow and methodical. He also said that retrieving evidence from a vehicle that had been submerged in salt water for this long would present challenges. He said the truck was going to be examined by the Georgia State Patrol’s specialized collision reconstruction team.

Many area searchers, such as Clint Droste, had spoken before of a suspicion that the truck may have driven into a body of water and that had led to searches of many water filled areas in Chatham, Effingham and Bryan counties. Droste said their groups had not searched the Hoover Creek area since they knew law enforcement personnel had searched that area several times before. He said that he and Bryce’s father had flown over the area a few weeks ago, trying to pinpoint areas that needed to be searched.

He also said he had been in touch with the family since the discovery and said he thought they were holding up extremely well under the circumstances.

“I believe they’re having to try a new process now — the grieving part,” Droste said. “Before they weren’t able to grieve.”

He also said he wanted to thank everyone who had been involved with the previous searches, whether they were part of a search team or provided donations to keep the searches going. He said he knows it meant a lot to the family."

Hundreds of volunteers had been involved with several searches in the area over the past few months along with many prayer vigils.

Bryce had been living with an aunt and uncle in Guyton while a freshman at AASU. According to information posted on the Bring Bryce Home facebook page, a wake will be held Saturday from 4-6 p.m. at Allison Funeral Home on Colerain Road in St. Mary’s.

A graveside service will follow Sunday at 2 p.m. at Oak Grove Cemetery in St. Mary’s.