Coroner's office working to get dental records in effort to ID skull found along Little Conemaugh River (copy)
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Cambria County Coroner’s Office is working to obtain dental records in an attempt to identify the person whose skull was found Thursday night near the Little Conemaugh River.
The death investigation was launched after a fisherman discovered the skull in a remote section of Conemaugh Township, Cambria County, and called 911 at around 8 p.m. Thursday.
As of Sunday, the person’s estimated age, sex and identity remained under investigation, Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees said.
“Our top priority is to identify this individual,” Lees said, “but this process could take some time.”
Death scenes often provide clues to identities that might otherwise be hard to discover, but “this is a lot different than when you find a body in a house fire and have a good idea of who lived inside the house,” Lees said. “In a case like this, it could be anyone.”
Lees’ office is working with a forensic dentist and Erie-based forensic pathologist Dennis Dirkmaat, of Mercyhurst University, to narrow down possibilities. Dirkmaat is planning to conduct a detailed examination of the skull, Lees said.
The Cambria County District Attorney’s Office is also investigating.
Anyone with information that might assist investigators is asked to call the Cambria County non-emergency number, 814-472-2100.
