Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991 TAG: 9103140515
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: RON BROWN and VICTORIA RATCLIFF/ STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Milton Wright, who was 46 in 1976, was reported missing by neighbors who hadn't seen him for several days, Roanoke police said today.
Wright lived in the 4200 block of Joplin Road Southwest in the Southern Hills community very close to the wooded area where a hunting dog unearthed parts of a human skeleton Wednesday, authorities said.
Wright had a history of mental problems and drinking problems and apparently was not working when the missing persons report was filed, police said.
He had lived alone for two or three years in the rundown house where his billfold and some other personal belongings were found on the porch the day he was reported missing.
Wright was originally from North Carolina and does not have relatives in the area, authorities said.
Roanoke County Police Chief John Cease said the bones that were found near the Hunting Hills Country Club golf course Wednesday could be associated with a skull found in the same area by dogs 13 years ago.
"We are operating on the theory that these skeletal remains may belong to that skull," he said.
The bones were found about 50 to 60 yards off a dirt road near U.S. 220 in the Pinkard Court community.
Cease said the same man who owned the dog that discovered the bones Tuesday owned the dog that discovered the skull in 1978. The man, Michael Hylton, called police Wednesday after spotting a human leg bone. Hylton could not be reached for comment today.
Police found no indication of foul play. The skeleton was not intact, and the bones had been scattered.
Cease said the skull was tentatively identified as belonging to a black man after an analysis by the Smithsonian Institution in 1979.
County evidence technicians worked throughout the afternoon Wednesday in an attempt to gather clues to the identity of the skeleton. Police found a moccasin and remnants of a shirt with the bones.
The bones had leaves and other debris piled on top of them, but the bones did not appear to have been buried in the ground, Cease said.
by CNB