INFORMATION DEVELOPED ABOUT SKELETAL REMAINS

(Westminster, MD) – Maryland State Police homicide investigators have obtained additional information about the skeletal remains found in Carroll County earlier this week after an initial examination was conducted at the Office of the State Medical Examiner.

Although a positive identity has not been made, forensic experts believe the skeletal remains are those of a white female who, at the time of her death, is believed to have been in her mid to late twenties. The examination indicates she was about 5 feet tall and had a petite to extremely petite build. No estimates of her weight are known at this time.

The cause and manner of death have not been identified at this time. Additional forensic tests and examinations are continuing.

One of the experts consulting with doctors at the medical examiner’s office was Dr. William C. Rodriguez, of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Dr. Rodriguez told State Police investigators evidence indicates the woman had been dead at least three to ten years.

Maryland State Police homicide investigators sent a law enforcement teletype to police departments throughout the East Coast and Mid-West with this additional information. Investigators are asking police departments throughout this area to review missing person files in an effort to assist in the identification of the remains. Troopers are not limiting their possibilities in searching for an identity of this individual and will be reviewing cases from within the past four decades or more. The information regarding the remains has also been entered into the National Crime Information Center’s Unidentified Person File, providing access to the information to law enforcement across the country.

State Police investigators continue to process the area where the skeletal remains were found on March 24, 2009. State Highway Administration personnel are assisting with an excavation of the area, which is covered with trees, undergrowth, construction debris and fill dirt.

State Police are urging anyone with information about this case, or about the construction and development history of the land along the 900-block of Baltimore Boulevard, to contact them immediately. The State Police Homicide Unit investigators working this case can be reached directly at 410-386-3029.