Resolved FL - Merritt Island, Human skull in woods, Feb'09 - Ancient

Can you please keep me updated on this or any thing new information coming out on this skull found.Do they know how long this skull had been out there?

suzanne
 
It was fiound February 9 2009
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/18679829/detail.html
The gruesome discovery was made about 5 p.m. Monday in a fishing spot along the north end of Banana River Drive on Merritt Island.

Officials said several people were fishing in the area when the skull was spotted in the heavily wooded area located just north of the Bennett Causeway and near a boat passage.

It was found five feet up a tree:
That's when Cruz said he found the skull wedged nearly five feet up a tree.

"He's like, 'There a skull!' None of us believed him and sure enough it's a friggin' skull!" said one of the teens.

Investigators said the length of time that the skull has been in the tree has not been determined.
http://www.wftv.com/news/18680049/detail.html

I can't find info about whether the skull was identified but it's not listed in Doe Network or Namus.


A couple of Merritt Island missing persons.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1122dmfl.html
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/199dmfl.html
 
Map location, I'm pretty sure it is close to the "B" placement on map. I use to live here and this is a fishing spot for a lot of people. Notice the tree's. It could be at the beginning of the causeway too but this looks to be more remote. Cars going by wouldn't think twice if a car was parked there. Perhaps the person climbed the tree and died there?
 
Could have been carried there by a bird of prey or perhaps a panther (don't know if they exist in that area).

The other thing that came to mind was some kind of scavenger hunt or treasure hunt a la Poe's The Gold Bug. That's the one where the treasure is located by dropping a line down from the skull to identify the spot on the ground where the treasure is buried.
 
Update June 21 2014 -- I couldn't find anything new and the case doesn't seem to be listed anywhere.
 
I would please like to know of a update on this too. Can someone please find out?
 
Is there somebody who lives in the area who could call the Merritt fIsland police to find out if there's an update?
 
I'm not in the area (I live 215 miles away), but I can call them tomorrow morning anyway
 
I just got off the phone with someone from Brevard County's ME/C office.

1. The skull is still unidentified.
2. The skull is approximately 30 - 40 years old (so, dating back to between 1969 and 1979).
3. The doctor couldn't tell the sex or race, find the cause/manner of death, or give an estimated age range of the UID.
4. I asked if the skull looked like it was used for, say, medical research or for teaching in a lab. She said no.
 
Thank you for calling.Are they going to get DNA on this skull and send it off for more testing? They need too. Are they gong to put this in NAMUS? Any dental on this skull? This close is enough to be my sister or Keith Dean Fleming. I tried to find out about this skull when it was found and never got an answer about it.
 
Ok, this is pretty much solved.

Suzanne - I called with your questions and it turns out the woman I spoke to before had the wrong case. I remember seeing another report (while trying to find articles about this one) about two kids who were fishing and accidentally caught a skull. I think she pulled up that file instead of the one we're talking about here.

I spoke to an investigator this time, who found the anthropologist's report and gave me quite a bit of information.

Here is what he told me:

1. Many separate bones were found. The anthropologist found that the remains belonged to at least four different people.
2. The bones are over 75 years old and are most likely Native American.
3. The homeowners (who I'm assuming are history buffs) on the property were known to collect Native American bones.
4. There's evidence that whoever had these bones had tried to fix/reconstruct some of them with glue.
5. The anthropologist concluded that the bones ''are not of forensic significance''.

Not sure why you'd leave an old Native American skull on a tree, but okay. Maybe the homeowners were tired of people fishing near their property and thought the skull would scare them away. The kid interviewed in the news article certainly sounded freaked out. lol

Anyway, the investigator e-mailed me a copy of the report. Here is a link to the report, for anyone interested.
 

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