LAWRENCE CO.—Officials have released very little about the human remains located next to a box culvert off U.S. 50 in Lawrence County Wednesday.
However, we have learned this morning that the mostly-skeletal remains—those that have been found, anyway—were removed from the site Wednesday and transported to the Lawrence County morgue.
It’s “those that have been found” because according to officials yesterday (11.08.12), the ribcage was missing from the remains, believed to have been removed from the rest of the body by wild animal as the body lay on the north bank of the creek that runs through the location, which, specifically, is a concrete box culvert on Cahokia Trace Lane that runs on the north side of Red Hills State Park, outside Sumner.
At the morgue, a regional pathologist will be attempting to extract DNA for identification purposes, as there isn’t much left by which identification can be made.
We haven’t yet learned if any agency has any missing person in any DNA database so this can be searched and compared. It’s possible, but it’s also southern Illinois, where labs are simply overwhelmed processing data for court cases. We’ve learned that when it comes to missing persons in southern Illinois, resources are woefully inadequate. Thus far, in our area, there are three significant missing persons cases: Joel Moore, missing since March 2010; Beth Bentley, missing since May 2010; and Ed Hataway, missing since September 16 of this year. Authorities aren’t giving any indication that these remains could be one of the three, though: there’s been no determination of sex, height of the person, any discernible anomalies like dentures or a hip replacement, etc. For all we know, this could be a body someone traveling across 50 from Missouri to Indiana or vice versa decided to deposit in a remote location off the highway so the animals would find it before humans did.
We also have no indication from authorities HOW the body was found. Our initial information had it that it was farmers or maybe electricians working in the area; however, none of that, strangely, has been confirmed.
Anyone who has information is urged to contact Illinois State Police District 12, or the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department (618) 943-5766), who have done an incredible job searching diligently for the rest of the remains, and in coordinating efforts to learn the identity of this poor soul.
When we learn more, we’ll bring it; keep checking back.