San Jose police are investigating the discovery of a human skull
and bones in a rural area north of Morgan Hill.
San Jose police are investigating the discovery of a human skull and bones in a rural area north of Morgan Hill.
At 1:41 p.m. Wednesday, a person called the San Jose police department with a report of what they thought appeared to be human bones along Bailey Avenue west of Santa Teresa Boulevard.
Police responded and found a “partially unearthed skull” and subsequently coordinated with the coroner’s office. The coroner performed a cursory anthropologic exam on the skull and bones and determined that they were in fact human based on modern dentistry.
“They eliminated connection to a Native American burial,” Sgt. Ronnie Lopez said.
Lopez said that because of their size, the bones appear to belong to an adult, but an age or gender has not been confirmed.
The bones also appear to have been at the location where they were found for some time due to “an absence of body tissue,” Lopez said. Lopez estimated that it takes about a year for body tissue to fully decompose and disappear from a body.
The coroner’s office will begin a “slow and methodical” process to determine an identity.
