Second set of bone fragments may remain a mystery

Local News

December 4, 2009

By HEATHER PYLES, Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Fri Dec 04, 2009, 08:21 PM EST

Somerset — The mystery behind 21-year-old Jeffrey Kevin Price’s disappearance and the subsequent discovery of his remains continues to be investigated — but the questions surrounding the discovery of what may be another individual at the same site won’t be solved anytime soon.

“There’s only one case we’re opening up, until there’s enough evidence to open a second case,” said Pulaski County Coroner Richad New.

Price’s burned body was found last Saturday, Nov. 28, in a remote area off Strawberry Road in eastern Pulaski County. The Science Hill man had been missing since Nov. 9 when he left work, and his burned truck was found that same night.

The mystery deepened when on Tuesday investigators found evidence of “duplication of skeletal elements” — in other words, two left elbow bones were found, according to Dr. Emily Craig, forensic anthropologist with the State Medical Examiner’s Office. That discovery was made as investigators combed Price’s remains for clues into what may have happened to him.

But those additional fragments would only add up to make 32 grams “of severely burned and degraded skeletal material that includes one long bone forearm fragment and four partial vertebral bodies,” according to a preliminary report released by Craig and addressed to New and Mary Goolsby, examiner with the State Medical Examiner’s Office.

Because of the severe degradation of the bones, it’s nearly impossible for investigators to determine to whom the bones belong.

“Until such a time as a DNA profile can be developed, the source of these fragments cannot be determined,” Craig stated in the report.

Craig had stated before that the bones weren’t historic — meaning they couldn’t have come from an old burial site. But beyond that, investigators have hit a wall. Age and gender cannot be identified because of the scarcity of the evidence.

Authorities are treating Price’s death as a homicide, but New said there isn’t enough substantial evidence to suggest that the second individual was a victim of the same circumstances.

“These bone fragments are in question, but there may never be an answer where they originated from,” New said.

Until enough evidence is found, or until technology progresses enough that would allow investigators to retrieve more information from fewer material, New said he’s focusing on Price’s case.

“All I have is evidence of one (set of) skeletal remains,” New said.

But New emphasized more evidence may be discovered that could lend an answer to the puzzle that is the second set of remains.

“That may change,” New said, about his decision to not open a case into the second set of remains.

But until then, the unidentified fragments will have to remain a mystery.

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