Clark County Sheriff’s Office opens cold case, searches for missing head
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office is looking into a gruesome cold case from more than 30 years ago.
In 1979, near the Civil Defense Caves, a torso was found. The arms and legs were found in 1991. But to this day, the head is still missing. Now with new technology, investigators are still hoping to find it.
The main goal is to find the identity of the victim and finally give him and possibly his family closure.
“Somewhere out there is a family wondering what’s happened to their loved one and where their loved one is and we have a loved one here,” said Sheriff Bart May.
“It would be very nice to give that family back their family member,” Deputy John Clements said. “We’ve got anything we can think of — to do just that — to give the family back their loved one that’s been missing for 30 plus years.”
So the Sheriff’s Office is teaming up with Idaho State University to find some closure.
“They’re going to map the cave for us,” the sheriff said.
“It helps us see this cave as it stands before we, let’s say, dig or do any kind of surveys. It can help us locate really good potential places to search as well if we need to come back,” said Nicholas Holmer, osteologist from ISU.
“We are actually in the part of the cave that hasn’t been excavated previously, and we are doing test trenches,” said Kyra Stull forensic anthropologist from ISU. “If we do our test trenches, I would feel confident that it’s not in there if we haven’t found it.”
Even though this is interesting and sounds like it’s something straight from a movie, those searching for the head said we still need to remember this is real life.
“This is not a celebratory occasion. This is a horrible thing that happened to somebody,” said graduate student Daria Van Dolsen.
The sheriff said because the case is so old, they do not believe the killer is still alive.
The Sheriff’s Office says even the smallest piece of information will help. Do not hesitate to call their office at 208-374-5403.
