Reconstruction of skeleton could lead to dead man's identity

Douglas County sheriff's investigators are hoping a clay model will bring some answers in one of the county's unsolved mysteries.

Using a skull found behind the Park Estate in August 1997, facial reconstruction experts from the FACES laboratory at Louisiana State University were able to a make a clay profile of the man's head.

The man's skeletal remains were found by loggers working behind the historic residence east of Lake Parkway on Highway 50. The workers ran across a bone resembling a human femur and a backpack. Sheriff's investigators later found the skull, a couple more leg bones and some arm bones.

Next to the remains deputies found a University of Miami, Fla., jacket, Nike Air Jordan tennis shoes and blue sweat pants. A blue steel revolver was found at the base of a nearby tree.

A trace of the gun's serial number revealed to investigators it had been stolen from a South Shore motel in January 1992. Investigators speculated that the man could have been anyone from a transient, who died from exposure, to a murder victim. For several years investigators placed information about the man on the national missing persons list with no leads or matches.

Subsequent studies of the bones placed the man at 26 to 36 years old, of black and white descent, between 5 feet, 6 inches to 5 feet, 8 inches tall, and he might have had curly hair.

Anyone with information should contact Douglas County Sheriff's Investigator Dennis Slater at (775) 586-7257 or Secret Witness at (775) 586-7295.