LOS FRESNOS, Texas – Army Sgt. Edward John Anguiano, the last U.S. soldier missing in Iraq, was found dead, family members and the Pentagon said Monday.

Anguiano, 24, disappeared after his convoy was attacked March 23 near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. Anguiano’s grandfather and an aunt said military officials notified the family late Sunday.

“What we heard is that he was ambushed,” said Vicente Anguiano Sr., 72. “They found his truck, the one he drove, and it had been stripped — tires and everything. They found a body near the truck.”

Officials used DNA tests to confirm the remains were Anguiano, the grandfather said. He did not know when the body was found but believed Edward Anguiano was killed during the initial ambush.

Anguiano’s family members gathered in this south Texas town over the Easter weekend and held out hope he would return soon. The soldier’s mother “is very sad. She was not expecting him to be found dead,” said the soldier’s aunt, Maria Anguiano.

Anguiano was in the 3rd Infantry Combat Support Battalion out of Fort Stewart, Ga. He was traveling with the 507th Maintenance Company, a unit from Fort Bliss in El Paso, when it was attacked. Nine soldiers were killed and six, all with the 507th, were taken prisoner.

One prisoner, Pfc. Jessica Lynch, was rescued April 1. Five other soldiers were released April 13 and returned to the United States on April 19.

Seven of the dead soldiers found during Lynch’s rescue were members of the 507th. An eighth was a soldier from a forward support group of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.