THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 20, 1995 TAG: 9504200449
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Homicide investigators on Wednesday asked an Old Dominion University biology professor to help solve the mystery surrounding a human skeleton discovered on the wooded bank of a lake near Owl's Creek Golf Center.
Today, the detectives plan to call in an archeologist to assist them in what they are treating as a homicide. The cause of death has not been determined.
The detectives are using the scientists' opinions to determine how long the skeleton has been there. The remains were found Tuesday by a fisherman in a small ravine at the base of an evergreen tree amid a tangle of scrubby shrubs and vines.
``This is certainly a unique experience, to say the least,'' said the biology professor, Gerald F. Levy, whose specialty is plants. ``This is the most unusual request I have had. Usually, people call me to tell them what kind of tree is in their back yard.''
Levy, known as an expert on the Great Dismal Swamp, estimated seedlings near the skeleton to be about 5 years old. So far, that's the best estimate police have as to when the body may have been dumped or buried in the wooded area about a half-mile west of the golf course's parking lot.
Homicide Sgt. Tommy Baum said there were no visible clues that could help police quickly identify the remains. Dr. N. Turner Gray, a medical examiner, said the skeleton appeared to be that of a teenage female.
Police hope the archeologist will be able to examine the bones for further clues.
Knowing when the body was put there is important because Virginia Beach police each year receive thousands of reports persons and runaways.
Last year alone, more than 3,000 such cases were reported to police, and 123 people were never accounted for. And that doesn't include the hundreds of runaways from other cities and states who enter the city each summer.
If police can more precisely determine when the person died, they have a better chance of matching the remains with a missing-person report, if a report was filed.
A missing-person report helped police in January 1991 to identify the body of another woman dumped nearby. In that case, the nude body of 21-year-old Karen Wheeler was found stuffed inside a zippered duffel bag in woods near the Virginia Marine Science Museum on General Booth Boulevard, a little more than a mile from where the skeleton was found Tuesday.
Police on Wednesday said it is too early to speculate if the cases are related.
Wheeler had been strangled. The case wasn't solved.
Wheeler's body was found a month after police discovered the strangulation of another young female, 17-year-old Joan Elizabeth Shoppaul. Shoppaul's body was found by scavengers in a trash container on Baxter Road. That homicide is also unsolved.
At the time, police said they doubted the Wheeler and Shoppaul cases were related.
The skeleton found Tuesday will be sent for a more thorough examination at the Norfolk crime lab.
``It's quite an incredible puzzle,'' Levy said. ``We at the university get all sorts of requests, and we do our best to serve the public. It keeps life interesting.''
Police ask anyone with information to call 427-0000. ILLUSTRATION: D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Staff
The skeleton was found Tuesday by a fisherman on the wooded bank of
a lake near Owl's Creek Golf Center in Virginia Beach.
ODU's Gerald Levy.
Staff Map
KEN WRIGHT/Staff
KEYWORDS: UNIDENTIFIED BODY SKELETON by CNB