Partial Human Skull Found in Miller County
By: KTAL-TV, Shreveport, LA
Updated: October 25, 2012
The Miller County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is investigating after the upper portion of a human skull was found in the Red River.
The remains were dredged up Tuesday by the Garland City Sand and Gravel Co., according to MCSO Chief Deputy Duke Schofield.
Schofield said an employee from the company called and said what appeared to be a human skull was found when crews were sifting sand removed from a depth of 10-to-12-feet of water.
The skull was "from the eye sockets up," he said, and appeared to "have been in the water a long time." He added that there did not appear to be any kind of trauma to the skull.
Schofield said the skull is being sent to the State Crime Lab, where he's hoping forensic scientists can ascertain such things as the gender, race and approximate age of the skull.
After the skull was found, Schofield said the MCSO had done some research on unsolved drowning reports in that area of the Red River for several years back.
"If they can get the DNA from the skull, we might be able to match it to families (descendents) and identify it that way."
The remains were dredged up Tuesday by the Garland City Sand and Gravel Co., according to MCSO Chief Deputy Duke Schofield.
Schofield said an employee from the company called and said what appeared to be a human skull was found when crews were sifting sand removed from a depth of 10-to-12-feet of water.
The skull was "from the eye sockets up," he said, and appeared to "have been in the water a long time." He added that there did not appear to be any kind of trauma to the skull.
Schofield said the skull is being sent to the State Crime Lab, where he's hoping forensic scientists can ascertain such things as the gender, race and approximate age of the skull.
After the skull was found, Schofield said the MCSO had done some research on unsolved drowning reports in that area of the Red River for several years back.
"If they can get the DNA from the skull, we might be able to match it to families (descendents) and identify it that way."
