Tuesday, April 2, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Two hikers spotted a skull on Friday in northern Churchill County and investigators spent the weekend unearthing the rest of a body that still had clothing and tennis shoes intact, according to Sheriff Bill Lawry.
He said the body had been covered with large rocks and dirt and probably had been disturbed by a coyote or other predator. The sheriff would not comment on the cause of death, but said the case was being treated as a homicide.
He told the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard the body probably had been buried within the past year. He added that he did not believe the victim was a local resident.
The remains were sent to Washoe County for analysis, a process officials said could take months.
Lawry said one of the first steps would be to have a forensic dentist look at the victims' teeth, then to send those results to other enforcement agencies in an attempt to identify the victim.
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