Mystery as headless body with bullet wound to chest among 16 unidentified decomposing remains found
A MYSTERY continues as the remains of 16 people are still unidentified, including a headless corpse with a bullet wound to the chest.
Since 1979, the enigma of these bodies has haunted central Pennsylvania after a woman's skeletal remains were found over an embankment near the Juniata River.
To this day, her cause of death could not be determined but authorities listed it as a suspicious death.
Of the 16, the deceased include an infant, a preschooler and at least one teenager. Four of the bodies are women.
The last two bodies were discovered as recently as 2021. on an island near the Susquehanna River on July 25, 2021.
The bones were two femurs and a tibia belonging to a man between the ages of 22 and 50. In life, he would have been between 5 feet 6inches and 6 feet 2 inches tall.
Missing People
Months later, on September 19, were found at the Falmouth Boat Launch. It's unclear whether the child was a boy or girl.
BLOODY HISTORY
The body of was found on January 21, 1992, in Clay Township.
The man is believed to be between 18 to 30-years-old and stood around 5 feet 10 in life.
He had a scar on his chest from a previous bullet wound that had healed and had been found wearing a light blue Kate Collins brand sweater with a monogrammed K on the front.
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In addition to his head, one or more of the man's hands were not recovered and it is believed that he had been dead for about six months before being discovered.
The skeletal remains of yet another body were found in 2013, this time of a Black male between the ages of 30 and 50-years-old.
It is possible that his remains had been there three to 10 years before he was eventually found.
According to the [NamUs], a resource center for missing, unidentified and unclaimed person cases in the US, one or more of the man's limbs were not recovered.
It's believed by West Manchester Township Police that the man was killed in a homicide and experts were brought in to determine how he may have grown up and lived.
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In an effort to solve these mysteries, Pennsylvania enacted a law requiring coroners to take DNA samples from unidentified remains before burial or creation and upload them into a national database.
Samples from missing persons are also uploaded. Only a few states in the US have passed such legislation.
