Head still a mystery

Monday November 9, 2009

By James Munson

Police have begun identifying a human head found along a Grey Mountain bike trail two weeks ago.

The head belonged to a man and is not historical, a forensic anthropologist in Vancouver has determined.

The age and ethnicity of the man is still unknown, the RCMP said in a news release.

Nor do authorities know when it was left in the woods, said the release.

The head’s jaw bone is now being compared with dental records from people on the Yukon’s missing persons list.

There are 69 people on the list, said RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Don Rogers. The oldest case goes back to 1967, he said.

But Rogers doesn’t know how many men are on the list.

“I’m sure investigators have (shortened the list to just include men), but I’m not privy to all the information,” he said.

There’s been speculation that the head could have been carried by an animal from a human grave at a nearby cemetery.

Parks supervisors with the city of Whitehorse, who maintain the Grey Mountain Cemetery, did not return calls before press time.

The head was found by a mountain biker near the Bypass Trail, located 5.6 kilometres north of Wickstrom Road and about 3.3 kilometres northeast of the Long Lake Road on October 23.

It was immediately sent to forensic experts in Vancouver by police.

The RCMP did not find any other human remains in the area.