DATE: Tuesday, September 23, 1997           TAG: 9709230217

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                      LENGTH:   25 lines

FACIAL X-RAYS CONFIRM BONES AS LOST WOMAN'S

Skeletal remains discovered last week on a lot where a house was torn down belonged to a woman who was reported missing six years ago, police said Monday.

An acquaintance reported Patrina A. Smith, 27, missing on Aug. 26, 1991, police spokesman Peter Edgette said.

Smith was last seen entering the car of an unknown man on the night of July 15, 1991.

The cause of death has not been determined, but police were investigating it as a homicide, Edgette said.

Police also do not know how long the bones were on the lot.

Construction workers removing debris from the lot discovered the bones on Sept. 15. Investigators at the state crime lab in Norfolk identified the remains by comparing facial X-rays, Edgette said. KEYWORDS: MURDER

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu