Authorities hope shirt can help ID remains of female found near Chautauqua hiking trail
MAYVILLE, N.Y. — More than a year after a hiker's find led to the discovery of two sets of human remains near a public trail in Chautauqua County, authorities are still trying to identify one of the females.
The Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office is hoping a shirt can help solve the mystery.
The office earlier this week posted photos of the Jacque & KoKo shirt, its yellow stripes faded, on its website in an effort to jog someone's memory about who might have owned it.
The shirt was found with the as-yet-unidentified remains of a female that were discovered in a Rails to Trails hiking area off Woleben Road in Portland, New York, on Sept. 26, 2021. Authorities reported previously that a hiker who was in the area discovered a suspected human skull.
September 2021 report:One set of remains identified in 2 Chautauqua County, NY, cases; foul play involved in both
A detailed search of the area was conducted the next day by investigators that included members of the Mercyhurst University's department of applied forensic sciences. During the search, intact skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave that Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone said was about 6 inches deep.
More:Authorities including FBI, Mercyhurst investigating discovery of human remains in Chautauqua
Authorities then did a grid search of the area in an effort to find more evidence, and during that search, a second set of human remains were found about 10 yards away from the first set, investigators reported.
Authorities later identified one of the sets of remains as Marquita Mull, 50, of Buffalo, who was reported missing on July 18, 2021, and who was last seen on June 25, 2021, according to Quattrone. Mull's death remains under investigation.
According to information in the news release issued with the photos of the recovered shirt, the unidentified remains are of a woman who was between 15 and 35 years old. She was between 4 feet 11 inches and 5 feet 7 inches tall, investigators reported.
The recovered shirt is believed to have been first sold in the early 1990s, authorities wrote in the release.
Investigators believe the remains have been at the site where they were found since at least 2011.
Since Marquita Mull was a resident of Erie County, New York, authorities said it is possible that the unidentified person might also be from that area.
Quattrone said during a news conference in October 2021 after Mull's remains were identified that investigators believe foul play was involved in both deaths but they were unsure whether the cases were related. He said both bodies were disposed of at the site on purpose, as the females were not on the trail for recreational purposes.
The sheriff said during the news conference that authorities had ruled out linking the remains to two missing persons from Chautauqua County. Those persons are Lori Ceci Bova, 26, who went missing from Lakewood, New York, in June 1997; and Corrie Anderson, 36, who went missing in 2008.
Anyone with information that could assist in the investigation into the unidentified remains is asked to call Investigator Jacob Stahley of the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office at 716-753-4973 or send an email to UnsolvedChautauqua@sheriff.us.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Remains of woman in Portland, NY: Shirt might help ID Chautauqua case
