Identified! WV - Jefferson Co., Skull found at construction site, Jul'09 - Old burial

<snipped>

Skull found at W.Va. construction site



CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Authorities are trying to determine the identity of a human skull found at a construction site for a new elementary school in Jefferson County.



Jefferson County Sheriff Bobby Shirley says the skull was found Thursday as crews worked in an area where a drainage pipe was being installed near Charles Town.



Police halted work in the area and Shirley says a search will be conducted for possible additional remains. The property had been an empty field before excavation work began.

http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/84285.html?isap=1&nav=535

West Virginia
Human skull found

July 2, 2009

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. &#8212; A human skull was found Thursday morning off Job Corps Road in Jefferson County where a new elementary school is expected to open next year, according to police and school officials.

The skull was found by construction workers about 35 feet from Job Corps Road on what formerly was the Walker farm, according to Jefferson County Sheriff Robert &#8220;Bobby&#8221; Shirley and Board of Education President Peter H. &#8220;Pete&#8221; Dougherty.

Sheriff's deputies were called to the excavation site about a half-mile from W.Va. 230 near Sam Michael&#8217;s Park about 11:45 a.m., Shirley said. An anthropologist arrived from Quantico, Va., Thursday evening to help search for additional human remains while police had the scene secure, Shirley said. County medical examiner Carole Spessert was assisting with the investigation, Shirley said.

The anthropologist was working with a sheriff&#8217;s department investigator at the site, Shirley said.

&#8220;We&#8217;re trying to locate more body parts, if possible,&#8221; Shirley said.

The anthropologist will help determine whether the site should be further sifted through to look for remains, Shirley said.

Authorities discussed bringing cadaver dogs to the site but decided to wait until after the anthropologist investigates, Shirley said. Cadaver dogs are trained to follow the scent of decomposing human flesh.

The skull was intact and had upper teeth, but was missing the jaw bone, Shirley said. He said he did not know of any open missing persons cases in Jefferson County.

Officials have been unable to determine whether the skull was that of an adult or a child, Shirley said.

The area where the skull was found is in the &#8220;front yard&#8221; area of where the new school is to be built, Dougherty said.

There were no known burial sites on the 15-acre property, which was donated by the developers of Breckenridge subdivision, Dougherty said. The previous owners of the Walker farm have resided in the county for generations, Dougherty said.

School officials took part in a groundbreaking ceremony June 20 for the new school, which is being built for about 400 students, according to Dougherty.

Basic site preparation work has been completed and construction bids for the project came under budget for the project, which has been estimated to cost $10 million, Dougherty said. W. Harley Miller Contractors Inc. of Martinsburg is the general contractor, Dougherty said.

&#8220;We just approved the contractors on Monday,&#8221; Dougherty said.

Anyone with information about the identification of the skull may call the Sheriff&#8217;s Department at 304-728-3205


http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=226148&format=html

Samantha Burns,(WVa) a college student that was abducted and never located by the same 2 men that abducted and killed Alice Donovan? I know the location is off but where this body was located is off an interstate that I think connects with I-95 which would lead down toward the Mrytle Beach area. Just a thought. I would like for both of these women to be found to offer the families some type of closure.

It was the 1st thing I thought of when I read this.

There is a very old cemetery close to this site - perhaps an old grave was disturbed during construction work?

Archaelogical team to study construction site to see if more bones are buried there
By RICHARD F. BELISLE | July 9, 2009
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Doug Owsley, a nationally known forensic anthropologist who is said to have handled more than 10,000 human skeletons, has determined that a human skull found last week at a new school construction site in Jefferson County belongs to a teenage black girl who might have died before the Civil War. Jefferson County Sheriff Robert "Bobby" Shirley and Detective Tracy Edwards made the announcement Thursday morning at a press conference....

Historian's research backs theory on skull
By RICHARD F. BELISLE | July 19, 2009
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Research by a local historian could support an expert forensic anthropologist's theory that a skull found at a school construction site is that of a black teenage girl who died before the Civil War. William Theriault of Halfway, who has done extensive historical research in Jefferson County, said census records of the time show that a black female slave lived on a farm owned by Michael Foley in the 1830s and 1840s....

Click to expand...

http://articles.herald-mail.com/200...1_human-skull-construction-site-burial-ground

http://articles.herald-mail.com/2009-07-19/news/25179458_1_slave-girl-human-skull-doug-owsley