TX TX - San Antonio, BlkUnk 9-15, UP11726, Skull in backpack on vacant lot, Jun'11

[victoriarobinson642]

Who is listed as ruled-out?
In my completely amateur opinion, we should be open to there being an error with regards to race, just in case. This child needs his or her name .

Only ruleout is Angelica Livingston.

 

[snowgoose]

Adding the updated NamUs link for this UID: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

There is an Unidentified Wiki page too, but no additional info: Bexar County Doe

 

[Friday Fan]

Pretty sure this area is heavily gated! It's one of those high dollar subdivisions that have guards who make you show your ID and require you to let them know whose home you are visiting.

This is all I can find on this case. A local person must have done this.

If the address is 100% accurate then the street where the skull was found circles the hill top mansion. Vera Cruz is actually on a military base.

I show a home on Manor Hill was constructed in 2001. Every home is appraised over $750,00o. This is a community like George Strait would live in.

There is a large trailer park across the street from this swanky subdivision. Maybe the source was the trailer park, long before this subdivision existed? This is not an area that a traveler from I-10 would happen upon..Although it is close, it is hidden.

Human skull found on Northwest Side

 

[Friday Fan]

This street is at least 3 miles from the nearest exit on I10 and it involves knowing the area fairly well...Gotta get off at Boerne Stage Rd, then you gotta go through Leon Springs, then you get to Aue Rd and continue on that for several miles. The area is extremely dark at night with no street lights and it is super easy to get lost.

I went out to Fair Oaks Ranch at night to put up campaign signs at a polling site and I was scared because it was so dark, I felt like I was lost. Gotta know the area to get around. Roads twist and turn etc.

Since the sex is listed as undetermined, I assume they probably were not able to obtain proper DNA to determine the sex?

 

[Blurgle]

They probably assumed it was female because of the lack of a super orbital ridge, but of course that develops at puberty. I'm not sure if it's possible to determine the sex of a prepubescent child's skull without DNA typing.

 

[Friday Fan]

Since there is no law enforcement contact on the NAMUS profile and the only mention of this is one paragraph in a newspaper, I thought: It is a hoax? Is it grave robbers?

Well just today I found out that there is an old abandoned cemetery there.

I doubt if anyone was buried in anything fancier than a pine box. The last person was buried there in 1970? Most were buried between 1900-1950.
I don't know how deeply they are buried. There is really not soil out there. It's rock. It was on the ranch of the former Rudy's (well known local business) family who gave them a place to be buried, so I'm sure it was shovels and nothing else. (None of Rudy's family is buried here)

Many buried do not have headstones.

There are some older children who were victims of traffic accidents when automobiles first started in the area. Everyone is Hispanic. Most were sharecroppers....Many families buried other members in different cemeteries since this cemetery was on private land.

This cemetery happens to be on prime real estate now.

The land appears to have been sold and subdivided for luxury homes beginning in the 1980s. Somehow this little cemetery happened to be there. I'm sure there were issues surveying the cemetery too.

The cemetery is now Dominion HOA property.

In 2010 a group from Find a Grave were out there.

In 2011, a backyard pond was dug next to where the cemetery is.

The cemetery is padlocked...

Find A Grave shows a beautiful blonde woman was buried there in 2018. She was not.LOL..Someone must have found an obit and assumed she was buried in "Leon Springs Cemetery"......No...just no...Obit gives no cemetery. My hunch she is interred out of state...

Memorials in Leon Springs Cemetery - Find A Grave
If you have time, scroll through the memorials!

Image from Find a Grave

Location of cemetery: Google Maps



Screenshot of area with Google Earth Desk from 2010 showing very shallow grave sites. Screenshot from Google Maps showing over all terrain.

This is a very exclusive area. If there was foul play, we would have heard about it.

I don't think there was any serial killer involved...

I think the skull came from the cemetery. They may be hoping for an ID.....
But I kinda doubt they will get one.

I feel comfortable that it was someone from this cemetery.

 

[snowgoose]

Interesting, great work! I'm still wondering why it was in a backpack, though...

Maybe a plausible explanation is that someone found the skull at this site (the remains having been unearthed by animals), took it home as a souvenir, then regretted it and took it back to where they found it but left it in the backpack to avoid touching it.

If LE suspects it is from the cemetery, that does help explain why there are basically no efforts to identify the person.

 

[Goecke]

Elena Jaimes Rivas (1913-1927) - Find A Grave... The only girl within the age range buried in that cemetery, unless there's more people buried there that we don't know about. Her grave is unmarked.

 

[Friday Fan]

Elena Jaimes Rivas (1913-1927) - Find A Grave... The only girl within the age range buried in that cemetery, unless there's more people buried there that we don't know about. Her grave is unmarked.

The majority of the graves are unmarked. There seems to be no official records for the cemetery. Reliance is on death certificates, but Texas did not have death certificates prior to 1903.

Interpretation of death certificates is dependent on the undertaker's handwriting and also what the next of kin called it. One husband called it "Alvarez Cemetery" because his mother in law was buried here. Also, if someone died at home, they may not even have a death certificate.

Also there was no DNA obtained on the skull, so we aren't sure of the sex....
This skull was found in one of the most exclusive areas of San Antonio and the San Antonio PD do not have an open case on this UID.

There was also a pond dug and other activities shortly before the skull was found.

 

[iulia]

The NamUs page for this UID is down.

 

[cvaldez1975]

The NamUs page for this UID is down.

i wonder if we will ever know.