More information released on quarry bones

COEUR d’ALENE — Human remains found in a Coeur d’Alene rock quarry earlier this month are from a man who was more than 30 years old and who had poor dental hygiene, Coeur d’Alene Police said Friday.

The department was contacted Sept. 3 about bones found in a quarry east of Ramsey Elementary School on West Kathleen Avenue belonging to Central Premix.

Police say two children were exploring when they found old articles of clothing along with the bones in a bed of weeds, which included a skull with missing teeth. The skull was not fractured.

“We were unable to tell if the body was put there or died there,” Coeur d’Alene Police Detective Jared Reneau said.

Police say the bones appear to have been there for a significant amount of time, at least a year, maybe two.

Reneau said the bones were found on the surface, not buried, in a deep part of the quarry that had not been used in more than five years. He estimated the quarry where the remains were found is more than 300 feet deep.

Police said DNA testing may be completed in the future, but for now a forensic anthropologist is conducting skull and dental scans.

“This could help us with identifying the remains,” Reneau said.

The clothing found with the bones is being investigated under the assumption it belongs to the dead person.

"We are treating this as a crime," he said. "Although ... we don’t have any information as to how the body ended up where it was located, who the person was, or what the cause of death was."

Police said they are attempting to match the incident with missing people in their cold-case files.

“There is no estimate on how long the investigation will take,” he said.

Anyone with information regarding the remains is urged to contact Detective Jacob Rodgers at (208) 769-2320.