Human remains found along mon
The Allegheny County Medical Examiners Office is waiting for dental records to make a positive identification of human bones found along the Monongahela River in Forward Township across the river from the Mitchell Power Station Wednesday evening. Forward Township police Chief Tom Staley said he received a call from a woman who lives about 100 yards downriver from where the bones were found, saying she had found some bones but wasn’t sure what they were. Staley said the bones appeared to him to be human and he contacted the Allegheny County detectives and the medical examiner’s office.
Staley said the initial finding was approximately 20 bones, 16 of which he said were human. The medical examiner’s office cadaver dog was brought in and additional human remains were found, Staley said. Staley said clothing and identification were also found in the area.
“The bones were definitely human,” said Joe Angotti, a forensic investigator and K-9 handler with the medical examiner’s office.
Angotti said his 4-year-old Doberman pinscher, Saber, found the additional skeletal remains. Angotti said the dog has been working with the medical examiner’s office for the past three years.
“Police dogs have to wait until they’re mature, because they are trained for aggression. For search work, you can start them as puppies,” Angotti said.
The medical examiner’s office Thursday attempted to identify the remains, but could not make a positive identification without dental records. Officials are working on the assumption that the remains are those of Steve Berry, 36, of Amity, Washington County, who has been missing since the fishing boat he was in capsized near the Maxwell Lock and Dam the evening of April 22. The body of Berry’s fishing companion, Trent Stupak, 40, of Washington, was recovered from the river on April 29. Family members who had kept a vigil at the riverside during the entire search period first spotted Stupak’s body.
Members of the Luzerne Township Volunteer Fire Department and others searched for two weeks, using divers and sophisticated sonar equipment in an attempt to locate the bodies. Luzerne Township fire Chief Ryan Nichols said the lengthy search spurred the fire department to seek a state Fire Commissioner grant that the department used to purchase its own sonar equipment for river searches.
Nichols said the firefighters became close to the families during the search and the department immediately contacted the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office when the members heard about the bones being found.
“They said it’s a 90 percent chance that it’s him, because there’s nobody else that’s missing,” Nichols said.