Police: Remains may be that of Vietnam vet
Investigators said the badly decomposed remains of a man discovered in Dunbar Township could be those of a Vietnam veteran who was living in the woods outside of Connellsville. The state police were again scouring a wooded area off of Connellsville Street Wednesday in search of additional clues regarding the skeletal remains of a man discovered in the area Sunday.
According to the Fayette County Coroner’s office, the remains could be those of a Vietnam veteran who relocated to the area from New Jersey and lived alone in the woods, but noted that an investigation into the man’s identity is continuing and no identity has been confirmed.
State police trooper Daniel J. Venick said that a preliminary investigation of the man’s remains indicates the body was in the woods from between 9 months and three years.
Venick said while investigators are not ruling out foul play in the discovery of the skeletal remains, it is possible that the man died of natural causes and said police are looking for signs the man might have lived in the woods.
“Today (Wednesday), we have investigators up there looking for a lean-to or some kind of shelter,” Venick said.
Fayette County law enforcement officials removed the body Monday afternoon following an extensive search of the area.
A hiker discovered the body at 6:18 p.m. Sunday, police said.
Venick and trooper James Custer said that the body was found clothed in trousers and a jacket when it was discovered.
Investigators found a wallet at the site with a Social Security card bearing a Social Security number and a name. The information on the card is being investigated to possibly reveal the man’s identification, officials said.
Venick said it is too early to tell if the man’s death was a result of foul play.
“We might not know that for a long time because of the nature of the remains,” Venick said. “The bones had been scattered about, probably by animals, and we have little to go on. We are going to have an anthropologist study the remains and see what he can determine.”
The remains will be examined by Dr. Dennis Dirkmaat, the director of the Applied Forensic Sciences Program at Mercyhurst College in Erie.
Dirkmaat has worked a handful of local cases over the years, including two Fayette County homicide cases that involved burned remains.
In 1999, Dirkmaat worked in Bullskin Township, near the home of Helen Gillin where he and his team found 2,200 human bone fragments.
Gillin went missing in 1992, and police believed her adoptive parents poisoned her and then burned her body in their backyard fire pit. When Dirkmaat did the excavation seven years later, police had just charged the Gillins in their daughter’s death.
It was the first homicide in the county to be charged without a body.
Dirkmaat was able to confirm that the bones were human.
Gillins’ adoptive father, James Gillin, was convicted of first-degree murder and her mother, Roberta, was acquitted after a trial.
Dirkmaat was again called on in 2003 when the burned remains of Danielle McManus’ were found in a van at a junkyard near her family’s Normalville home.
Dirkmaat’s examination helped lead to the second-degree murder conviction of McManus’ cousin, Brian Hays.
Deputy Coroner Marisa Springer, the coroner’s office also attempting to identify the man found Sunday through dental records. Langer said the office is checking veterans’ records to try and corroborate the possibility that the man was a veteran.
Forensics teams from the FBI along with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department search and rescue team assisted at the scene Monday.
Herald-Standard staff writer Jennifer Harr contributed to this report.