Identified! KY - Bourbon Co., Skull found in creek, Apr'16 - Clay Reed

They've found a skull in a creek in Bourbon County, Kentucky. It was just found yesterday, so not much info has been released. They've searched around and couldn't find any other bones that could be related. So, thus far, this is only a skull.

Bourbon County is where Paris (its county seat) is located.
It is one county west of Lexington and is mostly farm/horse country.

There are several people missing from the Lexington area, but there aren't enough details to tie the skull to any of them as yet.

Skull found on Bourbon County farm
WKYT (Lexington, KY)
4/25/2016

Bourbon County Coroner Dee Gee Roe says a farmhand at Threave Farm in Paris found a human skull in a creek. Roe said the farmhand found the skull in Sunday while checking on horses. She said there were no obvious signs of trauma.

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She said they could not tell a gender or age from the skull.

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Investigation Underway After Skull Found On Bourbon Co. Farm
WLEX-18 (Lexington, KY)
4/25/2016

Cadaver dogs were brought to the farm, but did not find any other remains nearby.

The coroner tells LEX 18 that there doesn't appear to be trauma to the skull. The skull was sent to the state medical examiner in Frankfort.The coroner wasn't certain of age or the sex of the remains.

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Skull found in Bourbon County creek sent to medical examiner
Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky.com) (Lexington, KY)
4/25/2016

A farm hand found the skull in a small creek, possibly Hutchison Creek, that runs through a horse farm, Roe said. Roe wouldn’t identify the farm but other news outlets reported it was Threave Main Stud. Hutchison Creek is southwest of Paris.

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The farm employee “thought it was a ball or a piece of trash in the creekbed, and when they got to looking at it further they realized it was a skull,” Roe said. “It was not lying completely submerged. It was lying in the creekbed.”

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“I’ve got a couple of prospects, I guess you could say, as to who it could be,” Roe said. But she wouldn’t say any more about those open cases.

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The first link I posted (WKYT) has been updated a bit, but is not really a new story.

The coroner states that this likely isn't Melanie Dee Flynn. She's missing from Lexington, but I wouldn't have suspected the skull being her's. They found her purse on the other side (SW) of Lexington in the Kentucky River, so I think she's likely somewhere in that neck of the woods.

The coroner also seems to think the skull has been there for around 5-yrs. Why? I'm not sure, as I don't think they've had enough time to really examine it thoroughly.

Albert Mitchell is missing from Paris, KY: http://www.ncmissingpersons.org/tag/paris-kentucky/

He went missing in 2004, which is a bit before the 5-year estimate, but it's still early days and these estimates often change after detailed examination.

I also found a report about searching last year in Olivet, KY for the remains of a woman from Springfield, Ohio, but it seemed to be tied to the person who was at the Olivet location, not a general belief that she was taken to Kentucky.

carbuff said:

Albert Mitchell is missing from Paris, KY: http://www.ncmissingpersons.org/tag/paris-kentucky/

He went missing in 2004, which is a bit before the 5-year estimate, but it's still early days and these estimates often change after detailed examination.

I also found a report about searching last year in Olivet, KY for the remains of a woman from Springfield, Ohio, but it seemed to be tied to the person who was at the Olivet location, not a general belief that she was taken to Kentucky.

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I wouldn't trust that 5-yr estimate as they stated that just after the skull was found.

Mr Mitchell (according to Charley Project) was from North Middletown, which is in Bourbon county a bit SE of Paris.
Hutchinson Creek, if that is really the creek the skull was found in, is a few miles SSW of Paris, not too far from the Fayette County (Lexington) border.

It kinda sucks that so little is known about the remains. We don't know whether it was male/female, how tall they were, how much the weighed, etc,
I guess dentals or DNA could be used, but how could you find out who to compare them to? This is like a needle-in-a-haystack...

I am in the north east so I am unfamiliar with the area. Is this near the Kentucky River at all?

bflocket said:

The first link I posted (WKYT) has been updated a bit, but is not really a new story.

The coroner states that this likely isn't Melanie Dee Flynn. She's missing from Lexington, but I wouldn't have suspected the skull being her's. They found her purse on the other side (SW) of Lexington in the Kentucky River, so I think she's likely somewhere in that neck of the woods.

The coroner also seems to think the skull has been there for around 5-yrs. Why? I'm not sure, as I don't think they've had enough time to really examine it thoroughly.

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Maybe something about the color or texture?

There could be something about the location that tells them it hadn't been disturbed since a certain date.

Mountaingazer said:

I am in the north east so I am unfamiliar with the area. Is this near the Kentucky River at all?

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Not really. The Kentucky river is a couple counties west of Bourbon County.

Fayette County is around the center of the state. Bourbon County is just above and right of Fayette.

The Kentucky River is where the really squiggly line to the left of Fayette County is on the map.

The creeks in Bourbon County generally eventually drain into the Licking River. The Licking dumps into the Ohio River around the very top of Kentucky near Cincinnati.

Not sure if I'm explaining it well to a non-native of the area. I have (many, many, many) more maps of KY that I could post, but this one is fairly simple but marks the different counties. I'll find a better one if it's hard to read.

carbuff said:

There could be something about the location that tells them it hadn't been disturbed since a certain date.

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There could be, but it sounds like they were just judging the date on what the skull looked like.

It's also kind of odd that only the skull was found and no other parts of the skeleton whatsoever (as far as we know). This could actually be old enough to be Native American, so I don't know why they picked the "5-years" for the skull.

bflocket said:

Not really. The Kentucky river is a couple counties west of Bourbon County.

Fayette County is around the center of the state. Bourbon County is just above and right of Fayette.

The Kentucky River is where the really squiggly line to the left of Fayette County is on the map.

The creeks in Bourbon County generally eventually drain into the Licking River. The Licking dumps into the Ohio River around the very top of Kentucky near Cincinnati.

Not sure if I'm explaining it well to a non-native of the area. I have (many, many, many) more maps of KY that I could post, but this one is fairly simple but marks the different counties. I'll find a better one if it's hard to read.


View attachment 92991

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You gave a wonderful explanation, thanks!

bflocket said:

The first link I posted (WKYT) has been updated a bit, but is not really a new story.

The coroner states that this likely isn't Melanie Dee Flynn. She's missing from Lexington, but I wouldn't have suspected the skull being her's. They found her purse on the other side (SW) of Lexington in the Kentucky River, so I think she's likely somewhere in that neck of the woods.

The coroner also seems to think the skull has been there for around 5-yrs. Why? I'm not sure, as I don't think they've had enough time to really examine it thoroughly.

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While this isn't likely Melanie Flynn... the ownership of this farm is mighty interesting! ** Just sayin' **

"Andrew Carter Thornton II (1945–1985) was a former narcotics officer and lawyer who became the head member of "The Company", a drug smuggling ring in Kentucky. The son of Carter and Peggy Thornton of Threave Main Stud farm in southern Bourbon County, Kentucky."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_C._Thornton_II

"Thornton was raised on Threave Main Stud, a thoroughbred horse farm in picturesque Bourbon County."

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-12-08/features/8503250433_1_warrior-spy-gadgetry-vengeance

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/142783/kentucky-horseman-a-carter-thornton-dies

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...n-Fayette-25-Jan-1977&highlight=melanie+flynn

I hadn't looked up the history of the particular farm. Farms in my neck of the woods don't generally have names (other than a family name, community or creek name, etc). But Cowan actually was affiliated with both Flynn and Thornton in some way.

I'd read of him before, but forgot his name was Thornton.
(Whenever I think of that name, I just think of all of the mini-marts in Louisville.)

bflocket said:

I hadn't looked up the history of the particular farm. Farms in my neck of the woods don't generally have names (other than a family name, community or creek name, etc). But Cowan actually was affiliated with both Flynn and Thornton in some way.

I'd read of him before, but forgot his name was Thornton.
(Whenever I think of that name, I just think of all of the mini-marts in Louisville.)

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Who is Cowan? I think I'm missing something. Did you just mis-type... or is it me? It's likely me.

For anyone curious about my post regarding Andrew C Thornton II and Threave farm.

The link below provides a very brief explanation of the ties between Melanie Flynn, William T "Bill" Canan and Andrew C Thornton II (whose family owns Threave farm where the skull was found). There's a great deal more to the story between Thornton & Canan but (since authorities quickly stated this skull is likely not Flynn) I'll just leave it for now.


http://www.mtsterlingadvocate.com/morestory.aspx?storiesID=637

fred&edna said:

Who is Cowan? I think I'm missing something. Did you just mis-type... or is it me? It's likely me.

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Sorry. I meant Bill "Canan," the shady cop that was working on Flynn's pot case at the time she went missing

BTW... Do you know when the Mt Sterling story is from? I can't find the date, other than today's. Or did this just happen?

bflocket said:

Sorry. I meant Bill "Canan," the shady cop that was working on Flynn's pot case at the time she went missing

BTW... Do you know when the Mt Sterling story is from? I can't find the date, other than today's. Or did this just happen?

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I kinda/sorta thought you meant Canan, but... there are so many people associated with the Thornton/Bryant/Canan drug smuggling "company" that I wasn't sure.


Canan was released Sept 3, 2008

http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/28491014.html



Thought I'd add a bit more:

EX-OFFICER FACING DRUG COUNTS CALLED DANGEROUS FIGURE WITNESS LINKS CANAN TO DISAPPEARANCE OF MELANIE FLYNN
Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
April 14, 1993
Author: Robert Kaiser Herald-Leader staff writer

Six witnesses painted a chilling portrait of Bill Canan yesterday, but it was the haunting silence of a seventh -- Melanie Flynn -- on which prosecutors seemed to hang their case against releasing Canan before his trial on federal drug charges.

A former colleague on the Lexington police force testified that Canan once admitted killing Flynn, whose disappearance in January 1977 remains one of Lexington's darkest mysteries. Flynn was a 24-year-old secretary for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association when she failed to come home from work one winter night. She never turned up again. Several months after Flynn's disappearance, Canan told newspaper reporters that she had worked as an undercover agent for him and provided him with information about drug users and pushers. Canan said that Flynn had agreed to help him after he had built a case against her for possession of marijuana.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Graham yesterday invoked Flynn's name several times during almost 3 1/2 hours of testimony presented to portray Canan as a man too dangerous to be released on bond. The first time Graham mentioned Flynn, Canan's court-appointed defense attorney, Fred E. Peters, objected. But U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cook overruled Peters, opening the way for testimony about the Flynn case and allowing the hearing to take an unexpectedly dark turn. "I said, 'Who killed Melanie Flynn?' " former Lexington police officer George Umstead testified, describing a conversation he had with Canan a few years ago. "He just smiled. I asked him if he killed Melanie. He just . . . nodded his head, as if saying, 'Yes.' "

"...cadaver dogs sent to the area did not find any other remains. The skull that was found has been identified as that of Clay Jeffrey Reed of Lexington.
Reed went missing in February 2015 at the age of 54. The cause of death is listed as undetermined, but the coroner says that they do not expect foul play.


http://www.lex18.com/story/32248843/coroner-identifies-skull-found-on-bourbon-co-farm


The news reports are from June of this year, but it seems they have not yet removed him from NamUs

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/34685/5


Obit:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kentucky/obituary.aspx?pid=180459707


I wonder what this computer programmer was doing at Threave Main Stud Farm? 'Guess we will never know.

fred&edna said:

I wonder what this computer programmer was doing at Threave Main Stud Farm? 'Guess we will never know.

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I can't believe I missed this. I started this thread and generally look at the Lexington news (from WKYT) every day and all that stuff. But there was indeed a story about this there (Skull found in Bourbon County identified, WKYT 7/17/2016).

I wonder what happened to him. And where the rest of his remains are. I usually assume "foul play is not suspected" means suicide or old age or some kind of health problem. I kind of remember seeing something about him (or "some guy that works with computers") going missing, but I can't find any of the stories I might have seen for the life of me.

Hutchison Creek is far from being a major waterway. It's small and flows through the rolling hills of central Bourbon County. So if his head became detached from his body, the rest of his skeleton couldn't be very far away. There aren't swamps or any kind of rugged terrain where it could be hidden along the course of the creek. It looks like there's about 1½-miles of creek upstream of where it enters the farm.
Wouldn't they have searched there after somebody found a human skull in the creek?

And could somebody move this to the "Identified" thread?

Mr Reed's still in NamUS...

bflocket said:

Mr Reed's still in NamUS...

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Is it possible they left his Namus profile active because they only found his skull?