The Santa Clara County coroner's office has spent two months fruitlessly searching its facilities for missing remains of a 16-year-old Los Gatos boy whose murder made headlines when a classmate was charged years after the 1982 death.
Coroner's officials have no answer for the disappearance of Russell Jordan's partial skeletal remains, which were first turned over to them in 1995 after being discovered by a hiker in Los Gatos. The remains were not identified until last year, and the case was recently resolved when Jordan's high school friend Sean Viehweg, 38, pleaded no contest to the killing in a deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced in January to six years in prison.
The head of the coroner's office said staffers had first discovered that some of Jordan's remains were missing at the beginning of the year, shortly before Viehweg was sentenced. They also found that the original file, as well as an antique belt buckle that helped identify Jordan, were also unaccounted for.
Records indicate the department was last in possession of the missing bones in 2000, she said.
"I don't have any explanation for this." said Diana Hunter, Santa Clara County administrative coroner. "I wish I did. I wish I had (all) the remains. We were charged with taking care of him, and we didn't do that."
Authorities still have remains that were analyzed and returned by the FBI, the agency that succeeded in identifying the bones.
The disappearance brings new scrutiny to the coroner's office, whose previous chief medical examiner, Dr. Gregory Schmunk, resigned in December after being accused of ignoring an alleged theft by an employee and running up travel expense bills.
After scouring the coroner's office, officials have extended their search to more than half a dozen laboratories and law enforcement agencies that may have handled the remains. When the department first received the bones, portions were sent to several outside laboratories to help identify them through DNA testing.
Story from SF Gate
Coroner's officials have no answer for the disappearance of Russell Jordan's partial skeletal remains, which were first turned over to them in 1995 after being discovered by a hiker in Los Gatos. The remains were not identified until last year, and the case was recently resolved when Jordan's high school friend Sean Viehweg, 38, pleaded no contest to the killing in a deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced in January to six years in prison.
The head of the coroner's office said staffers had first discovered that some of Jordan's remains were missing at the beginning of the year, shortly before Viehweg was sentenced. They also found that the original file, as well as an antique belt buckle that helped identify Jordan, were also unaccounted for.
Records indicate the department was last in possession of the missing bones in 2000, she said.
"I don't have any explanation for this." said Diana Hunter, Santa Clara County administrative coroner. "I wish I did. I wish I had (all) the remains. We were charged with taking care of him, and we didn't do that."
Authorities still have remains that were analyzed and returned by the FBI, the agency that succeeded in identifying the bones.
The disappearance brings new scrutiny to the coroner's office, whose previous chief medical examiner, Dr. Gregory Schmunk, resigned in December after being accused of ignoring an alleged theft by an employee and running up travel expense bills.
After scouring the coroner's office, officials have extended their search to more than half a dozen laboratories and law enforcement agencies that may have handled the remains. When the department first received the bones, portions were sent to several outside laboratories to help identify them through DNA testing.
Story from SF Gate