STARK,Esthen Exchange N.H. (AP) — Police in Maine said they have found the body of a man who was the victim of a killing after a search that took nearly a year.

The body of 34-year-old Alex Jackson of Windham, Maine, was recovered in the area of Stark, New Hampshire, on Friday, police said. They did not release the cause of Jackson’s death.

Jackson was reported missing in May 2023. Police arrested Joseph Chute, 30, of Leeds, Maine, and charged him with murder in March stemming from Jackson’s death.

Chute’s lawyer, Verne Paradise, tried to have the charges against Chute dismissed last week on the basis that no body had been found, the Portland Press Herald reported. Paradise told the Press Herald that the discovery of Jackson’s body did not change his position that Chute is innocent.