Children found skull with missing jawbone in 2018, CO cops say. Now it’s identified
Six years after children found a human skull with a missing jawbone, it has been identified, Colorado deputies say.
Using advanced DNA technologies, the skull was identified as David Michael Crady, who would have been 63 in 2018, the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office said in a July 10 news release.
When the children found the skull lying by a utility pole “in the Lawson area” on May 11, 2018, they also found a tooth fragment nearby, deputies said.
There was no damage to the skull, aside from it missing its jawbone, deputies said.
Through examining the skull, an anthropologist found it belonged to a man of European descent, deputies said.
The anthropologist also found the skull had no signs of trauma and that the man had been dead “for at least four months, though more likely for one or more years,” the sheriff’s office said.
In hope of identifying the skull, deputies said they sent the skull to the University of North Texas so DNA could be extracted.
The DNA was then entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, according to deputies.
Last year, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation took up the case, deputies said.
Using “advanced genealogy techniques,” investigators “found a DNA match for the skull,” the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators learned the man’s family had lost contact with him several years before the skull was found, deputies said.
A family member submitted a DNA sample, and CBI investigators confirmed in May the skull belonged to Crady, deputies said.
An investigation into Crady’s death is ongoing, deputies said, adding that there are currently no leads as to what led to his death.
Sheriff Matthew D. Harris said he hopes the skull’s identification will “provide some closure for Mr. Crady’s family,” according to the release.
Lawson is about a 40-mile drive west of Denver.
This story was originally published July 11, 2024 at 8:04 AM with the headline "Children found skull with missing jawbone in 2018, CO cops say. Now it’s identified."
