Skeleton's identity confirmed

May 12, 2008 09:24 pm

— By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
Dental records have identified skeletal remains discovered May 5 in a field in Newton County as those of a Laotian man from Minnesota.
Sheriff Ken Copeland said the Newton County Sheriff’s Department received confirmation Monday from a forensic pathologist in Springfield of a match of the skeleton’s teeth to some dental records.
The dental records were obtained after a Laotian man living in the Cassville area reported last week that he recognized a necklace found on the skeleton as belonging to a cousin from St. Paul, Minn., the sheriff said. The cousin, about 40 years of age, had visited a Laotian woman in Cassville, with whom he had children in common, for a few weeks at the end of last year and the start of this year, the sheriff said.
“He was last seen on Jan. 10 of 2008 and was heading back to St. Paul, where he was residing,” Copeland said.
The man is believed to have been a homicide victim. A bullet was found in his skull. The remains were found in a field along Raven Road, south of Granby and about 100 yards north of Highway 86, and had been ravaged by animals. The bulk of the remains were about 20 feet off the roadway.
The cousin in Barry County reported the man missing to Cassville police in February after learning that he never made it back to Minnesota, Copeland said.
“Our next step is to try to determine who he was with last, who saw him last,” he said.
The deceased man is believed to have left Cassville in his vehicle, which has yet to be located, the sheriff said. Copeland said investigators believe the vehicle was returned to Minnesota.
“He’d left (the Laotian woman’s) house alone, but he told the cousin he was going back with a friend,” Copeland said. “We don’t know who that friend is yet.”
The cousin came forward Wednesday or Thursday of last week after seeing a photograph in news reports of the necklace discovered on the skeleton. The woman in Cassville who the deceased had been visiting was interviewed Friday, Copeland said.
The sheriff described the distinctive gold necklace as Buddhist in origin. It has a pendant with a dark-colored stone revealing a silhouette of Buddha when it is turned to a light source, he said.
An inscription on the back of the pendant has yet to be deciphered, he said. Language instructors from Missouri Southern State University who examined it believe the inscription to be in an offshoot tongue of the principal Laotian language, the sheriff said.