Sheriff's Office Finds Bones in Riverton Township

Human remains have been found in Riverton Township, however, investigators have no idea whether they are human or animal, or adult or children according to Kim Cole.  We need new investigators, I think, if they can't determine the difference between animal and human bones and between an adult and a child's bones on inspection.  Particularly when they call them human remains.  This is a great example of our area's law enforcement diligence in getting out information to the public in a rational manner.  We will try to follow this story as it develops.

 

 

RIVERTON TWP. — Human remains have been found in Riverton Township near the corner of Chauvez and Morton roads. Sheriff Kim Cole said detectives are on scene and the bones have been turned over to Dr. Marc Keen, Mason County medical examiner.

Cole said investigators did not know whether the bones were human or animal, adult or children’s bones.

Law enforcement officials have been organizing a search in June for the remains of Katherine “Baby Kate” Phillips, the 4-month-old who was taken by her biological father, Sean Phillips in June 2011. Since that time Phillips was sentenced for unlawful confinement of the girl. After his sentencing, last summer, Ludington Police Department announced it was opening a murder investigation in relation to the Baby Kate case.

http://www.masoncountypress.com/2013/05/17/bones-found-in-riverton-...

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Sorry peacefield farm.

As Monday morning draws to a close, there seems to be no updates on the identification or status of these bones.  On a completely unrelated aside, has anyone seen former Mason County Sheriff Jeff Fiers lately?   

Last I knew, Jeff Fiers was working at Lowe's.

How do they know that it's not baby Kate or some one else for that matter if they don't  even know by looking at them if it's human bones????  9 & 10 news had sheriff Kim Cole on and he said that they believe they are not baby kate...    Hmmm when they don't even know if human or not...

What I don't get is that they sent pictures of these bones to MSU bone forensics experts, but cannot provide those pictures to the public that pays their salaries to investigate things like this.  Consider:  1) If foul play wasn't involved, then the public may be able to help with identification (i.e. maybe a farmer lost a pig, or a dog in the area, or someone dumped a bucket of KFC waste there) 2) If foul play was involved, then the perp already knows bones have been found (by the press releases) and can react, whereas those that may have knowledge that could help (given more information) can only speculate.  This is particularly cogent if it happened within the immigrant worker community around that area, where someone came up missing and was presumed to have moved on. 

There are few reasons to keep this info from the public, and I haven't heard any good or bad reasons yet to do so.

Here's an update from MCP:

Human skull fragment among bones found in Riverton

May 21, 2013

A forensic anthropologist has identified one of the 12 bones found Friday in Riverton Township as being part of a human skull. Mason County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy confirmed this morning that the anthropologist, through a photograph, made the confirmation of the fragment. Confirmation will be made of all the bones’ status when they are sent to be physically examined.

Sheriff Kim Cole said that the fragment appears to be larger than that of a child.

The bones were found Friday on Morton Road north of Chauvez Road in a ditch. Cole said no houses are in that immediate vicinity and he didn’t know the circumstances of how they were found. 

The Mason County Medical Examiner’s office, including Dr. Marc Keen, along with Mason County Sheriff’s Office detectives, collected the bones from the site and photographed them. Keen examined the bones but did not make a determination. Photographs were sent to the anthropologist who confirmed at least one was human. Brown said a detective will be taking the bones to Michigan State University Wednesday where they will be physically examined.

The bones are being treated as evidence.

Anytime we have property that comes into our possession it is treated as evidence,” Brown said. 

Cole said he is unaware of any open missing persons cases in Mason County, or the immediate area, with the exception of the infant Catherine “Baby Kate” Phillips and Jessica Heeringa. Baby Kate, at 4-months-old, was taken by her father, Sean Phillips, in June 2011, not to be found again. Phillips is serving a sentence of up to 15 years at Jackson prison for unlawful imprisonment. A murder investigation is being conducted on that case. Heeringa is the Norton Shores woman who was allegedly taken from a Norton Shores gas station last month.

“I know there are people who want to connect these bones in the worst way to Baby Kate,” Cole said. “But, the fragment is too big to be that of a child’s. We would be failing in our duties as a sheriff’s office if we tried to make the connection. We need to take this fragment to whatever road it leads us down. We can’t make it Baby Kate.”

Cole said the bones and the skull fragment appear too old to be that of any recent disappearances.

Wouldn't it be odd if dozens of bodies are found all over the county because of the search for baby Kate.

Well that is what happened out here on long island - the police was looking for a craiglist "escort" who disappeared by Gilgo beach and in the search for her found a lot of human remains. The case is still open.

Personally I'm glad they are not baby Kate's at least there is still hope she is alive.

The original 'leak' about human remains appears to be accurate, as I'm sure the 'fragment' of skull that was intact was hard to misdiagnose as animal.  But the size and development of the skull must clearly be different than a four month old baby's skull, and even though some who believe Kate is still alive breathe a sigh of relief (at the same time those who want closure are disappointed), this opens up a whole new mystery to solve.  Hopefully we can get some of the forensic findings made public in the future.

Are you thinking about Melissa Simmons of Scottville?  Her body was found in the PM River back in 1993.  I would like to see the cold case be made public 20 years after she went missing.  What is there to lose from letting the public know? 

http://www.delayedjustice.com/?p=4504

I wasn't sure they found her either, until I checked it out earlier today when I was double-checking the sheriff myself, and recalled her name.   

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