Human remains treated as homicide

The human skull and bones found on a mountainside northeast of Sandpoint on Wednesday have likely been there five years and are being investigated as a possible homicide, Bonner County sheriff’s officials said Friday.

An investigation also is active on a separate skeleton found two weeks ago in Sandpoint during an archaeological dig along Sand Creek – a dig that’s required before the state can construct the U.S. Highway 95 byway.

The skull found in the Grouse Creek area has a hole in it, but Lt. Gary Johnston said it’s too early to speculate on the cause because it could be anything from a gunshot to animals or weather. Yet he said they are looking at it in a “homicide manner” until other evidence is found.

“We’re not really calling it a bullet hole,” he said. “We just don’t know the actual cause of death.”

It’s also unknown if the skull is of a man or woman. The county is sending the bones to a specialist in forensic anthropology. A dental anthropologist also will investigate the teeth. The review could take up to a month, Johnston said.

The remains were found by a couple hunting elk off the Strawberry Mountain trail in the Grouse Creek area. The skull and various bones, along with leather hiking boots, clothing fabric and perhaps a gun holster, were found in dense timber. Johnston said no trail, except perhaps a game trail or old skid road, was nearby. He said it was a “good mile” from the nearest vehicle road and a tough hike “back in the middle of nowhere.”

There are three missing person cases lingering in Bonner County, but none specific to the Grouse Creek area, Johnston said. The most recent is Christine Marie Lott, who would be 35. Lott was reportedly last seen at Mitchell’s IGA store in Priest River on March 25, 2004.

The other two are 5 to 15 years old, and Johnston couldn’t give any details.

“There is nobody that we’ve been actively looking for in that general geographic area,” he said.

The skull was the second recent discovery of human bones in the Sandpoint area in the same number of weeks.

Earlier this month, a state archaeological crew working near the Cedar Street Bridge found portions of a skeleton that is likely in the area of an abandoned 1880s cemetery.

Coroner Kathryn Rose said earlier this week that the cemetery was relocated at some point, and the body was likely accidentally left behind.

Idaho Transportation Department spokeswoman Barbara Babic wouldn’t comment on the skeleton or whether its discovery could affect the byway project.

Federal law requires ITD to do a cultural resource investigation, or an archaeological dig, before major projects such as a bypass.

Babic said work began in May and thousands of items from historic Sandpoint, including areas of a Chinese work camp, a mill and a district once lined with saloons and brothels, have been found.

Many of the items were on display Friday evening at the Sandpoint Community Hall, where archaeologists answered questions from the public.

All the items will be cataloged in a final report, which the state likely won’t finish until next year. It’s unclear whether references to human remains will be included in the report.

Rose said that work is being done to date the skeleton and find its identity.