Bonneville County Sheriff's Office is partnering with a company to help identify human remains found near the Palisades Reservoir in 2002.
BCSO is teaming up with Othram Laboratories to investigate human remains after a man and his dog first found what seemed to be a human skull. Deputies then searched the area and found pieces of tailbone, pelvic bone and vertebrae.
It was later determined the remains, which were extremely weathered, likely belonged to a man aged 25 to 45 years old, according to BCSO. FBI DNA testing confirmed the remains all belonged to the same person, deputies say.
BCSO then looked further into past drowning cases from 1978 to 1998 where bodies had not been found, and found one incident from 1980 when four people drowned. Two victims were two 38-year-old men and two children. BCSO says this case is the focus of the investigation but has not ruled out other incidents or crimes.
Othram Inc., a private lab, is working with deputies to examine forensic evidence with advanced DNA testing to help find who the bones belonged to, according to BCSO.
BCSO asks anyone who might have information on the case or family ties to the missing/unrecovered persons in the Palisades Reservoir area between 9178 and 2002 to contact Sgt. Karl Noah with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office at 208-529-1375.
