PHOTO GALLERY | WATCH VIDEO | Human remains discovered at home of Johnstown man recently convicted of wife's murder

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Officials confirmed Friday that human remains have been found in the basement of the Johnstown house where Brian Bradley Giles lived before his incarceration and conviction in the death of his wife, Nancy Giles.

“This is going to be a lengthy investigation and methodical process in removing these remains,” Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees said.

Authorities executed a search warrant beginning at around 9 a.m. Friday at a house along the 500 block of Franklin Street in the city’s Kernville section, based on information about a body possibly being located in the basement. The human remains were located in less than three hours.

Lees classified the death as “highly suspicious.” He said investigators are taking all necessary precautions to handle the case with dignity and respect.

Brian Giles, 48, lived with Nancy Giles in an apartment in the Franklin Street house before she went missing in October 2018. Her remains were found in May 2019 in a shallow grave near a trail on the Inclined Plane hillside in downtown Johnstown.

Brian Giles was convicted by a jury Thursday of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in her slaying, concluding a trial in Cambria County court.

Giles’ girlfriend after Nancy Giles’ disappearance, Jilly Todaro, also lived at the Franklin Street apartment with him. She went missing in December 2020 and there have been no sightings or indications of her since, police have said.

Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer declined to comment on which case the search was related to, but did agree with Lees that the location of the body was extremely suspicious.

“At this point, we’re not going to have a lot else to provide until we get a positive identification,” Neugebauer said.

Cadaver dog, forensic experts at the scene

Lees said the human remains were located roughly two to three feet below the dirt surface of a basement crawlspace, and added that the removal process would take several hours.

Once extracted, the human remains were expected to be transported to ForensicDx in Windber for an autopsy to be performed Saturday, before being sent to Mercyhurst University in Erie for more forensic investigation.

Neugebauer confirmed that authorities have initiated activity at the location previously, but declined to comment further.

Both Lees and Neugebauer expressed admiration for the assistance of every agency who answered the call for the operation in a short amount of time.

In addition to county officials, present at the scene were a Mercyhurst University forensic science team; Johnstown Police Department detectives and officers; representatives from a Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue unit; the Cambria County Emergency Management Agency; the Johnstown Fire Department; the Cambria County Box 11 first responder support group; and cadaver dog Rio and handler John Ackerman from the Greensburg Cadaver Detection Unit.

Shortly after Rio was taken into the basement, excavation started.

Lees said the basement is partially concrete, with a crawlspace in the wall, and the space behind that has a dirt floor, which is where efforts were concentrated.

Mercyhurst University team members worked to extract bucket after bucket of dirt and sift the debris under a tent in the backyard of the residence as other investigators helped and watched.

Lees said assistance from the forensic team was paramount to the investigation, adding that there’s only one opportunity to get it right.