Fort Myers- Detectives with the Fort Myers Police Department could be on the verge of cracking the case behind the eight skeletons found earlier this year...thanks to science.

WINK News brings you inside the invsetigation as far as Texas and introduces you to a world renowned forensic artist working to give each of the eight skeletons a name.

The mystery started back in March on a ten acre patch of land off Arcadia Street in east Fort Myers.

A land surveyor came across what appeared to be skeletal remains and after days of sifting inch by inch through dirt, detectives later recovered eight human skeletons.

The bones were found scattered and detectives say there were no identifiers like clothing or jewelry.

And it appears whoever left them there did not take the time to bury them.

"It's not natural obviously," said Sgt Jennifer Soto with the Fort Myers Police Department, "There were no signs outwardly to us that said there's a probable or reasonable explanation as to why they were in the woods."

Earlier this year a forensic anthropolgist determined all eight were probably white men between the ages of 18 and 49. Only one appeared to have lived a transient lifestyle and experts say seven of the eight had very good dental hygenie.

Somehow they all wound up in the woods between the 1980's and 2000.

Sgt Soto will not speculate as to why, but says she's heard numerous possibilities...from a funeral home dump site to a serial killer. None are being ruled out.

"There are all kinds of things that could have happened. Talk about a mass suicide-we've heard people talk about that. We've heard people talk about a mafia hit and this could have been a dumping site for a killer," said Sgt. Soto.

A few months ago the police department turned to world renowned forensic artist Sharon Long to bring the mystery to life. Detectives were connected to Long through local forensic anthropologist, Heather Walsh-Haney who is also working the bones case.

Long is based out of Wyoming, with a resume that includes work for the Smithsonian.

Long tells WINK News Now she tries to connect with the skulls by remembering they once lived, "I start trying to think...your mom's looking for you, your friends want to know where you are....help me out here."

She says it took her hundreds of hours, but she has completed the reconstruction of each skull using science and art to create what the men looked like in life.

Long says science tells her certain features are unmistakable like the shape of the face, nose and the jaw line. "One guy had a really sloped back forehead so he had a real low hairline," she explained, "Other ones had high foreheads, so sometimes relatives will notice something like that." But there are other features that are just guesses, such as hair color and eye color.

Sgt. Soto says the TV program America's Most Wanted paid for the facial reconstruction. AMW had to get a judges order in September in order to film Long at work and the bones.

We'll soon see the final product. Tthe Fort Myers Police Department says it will release the pictures this month, along with the airing of the America's Most Wanted episode, in hopes of sparking someone's memory.

Sgt. Soto says the reconstruction is taking the investigation to another level, "When you're literally looking at what a person may have looked like in life and you can't help but for a moment to think that they were a brother or they were son to someone."

A recognition won't give detectives an identification. That's where the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification comes in.

WINK News Now went to Fort Worth, Texas to talk with the experts working right now to extract the DNA profiles from the eight skeletons.

Dr. Arthur Eisenberg, director of the center said, "We feel fairly certain that the bones we have been sent from Fort Myers are representative of bones from the past of other skeletal remains we've had a lot of success."

The Center for Human Identification has a sucess rate of about 20-30%.

Dr. Eisenberg says most of the bones are yielding DNA, but in order to make a true identificiation they need DNA samples from families of missing people, known as family reference samples. So far, they have only received a handful.

He says family members can go to the Fort Myers Police Department, or any other law enforcement agency, to give their DNA sample. The Center has put together a family reference sample kit, available free of charge to any law enforcement agency.

The samples will be compared to the eight skeletons and to hundreds of thousands of unidentified human remains listed in the FBI's CODIS database...also known as the Combined DNA Index System.

"The only thing the samples can be used for by federal law is for identification. Nothing else can be done with these family reference samples other than trying to id their missing loved one," said Dr. Eisenberg.

The Center for Human Identification began entering the DNA profiles from the some of the skeletons this month and now we wait for a match.

The men have a face and a DNA profile, detectives say now it's time to find names.



Anyone with information is asked to call the Fort Myers Police Department at 1-877-667-1296 or 239-339-4008.


Descriptions of the 8 skeletons:
Individual #1
Gender: White Male
Age: Late 20’s – Early 40’s
Stature: 5’2” – 5.7”
Life Injuries and Dental Care: Individual #1 sustained injuries in life to his legs, forearm and chest. He has three wisdom teeth and has not had current dental care. He could have lived a transient lifestyle.

Individual #2
Gender: White Male
Age: 20’s - 30’s
Stature: 5’6” – 6’
Life Injuries and Dental Care: Individual #2 had healed fractures to his right fibula, nose and right collarbone. He does not have wisdom teeth and he may have had braces.

Individual #3
Gender: White Male
Age: 20’s – 30’s
Stature: 5’7” – 6’3”
Life Injuries and Dental Care: Individual #3 had very good dental care and all four wisdom teeth had erupted.

Individual #4
Gender: White Male
Age: 20’s – 30’s
Stature: 5’5” – 5’11”
Life Injuries and Dental Care: Individual #4 has all four wisdom teeth and he has fillings.

Individual #5
Gender: White Male
Age: 18 – Early 20’s
Stature: 5’10” – 6’4”
Life Injuries and Dental Care: Individual #5 has three of his wisdom teeth, one was removed. He had excellent dental care.

Individual #6
Gender: White Male
Age: Late 20’s – Early 40’s
Stature: 5’5” – 5’11”
Life Injuries and Dental Care: Individual #6 could have complained of back or hip problems. All four wisdom teeth had erupted and he had fillings.

Individual #7
Gender: White Male possibly Hispanic
Age: 20’s – 30’s
Stature: 5’11” – 6’3”
Life Injuries and Dental Care: Individual #7 fractured his right wrist in life. All four of his wisdom teeth had erupted.

Individual #8
Gender: White Male
Age: 20’s – 30’s
Stature: 5’6” –6’
Life Injuries and Dental Care: Individual #8 had all four of his wisdom teeth and good dental work. He might have been an athlete or he may have had a job with a heavy load bearing.