MSU forensic team help identify remains
OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office and Starkville Police joined forces on an investigation.
Human remains were found off Stuart Road in Oktibbeha County Thursday.
The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office and Starkville Police have been conducting an investigation in the wooded area for a number of months.
The agencies called Cobb Institute of Archaeology at MSU to confirm what they found that morning.
“Based on our previous knowledge of human anatomy, and what I teach the students here based on comparative anatomy, we could tell that it is more consistent with human than versus not human, thinking of like a deer or dog, or some other four-legged animal,” said Mississippi State Archeologist Dr. Jesse Goliath.
The institute’s senior research associate Dr. Jesse Goliath said his team was able to make that determination fairly quickly.
The remains were sent to the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s office in Pearl for further analysis.
He says the remains had been scattered and had possibly been there for a while.
“Usually with skeletal remains, it has typically been there at least six months or more but because of Mississippi, the temperature is high here and the weather, and a lot of animal activity, it can be as quick as a couple of months before you get skeletonized remains like that,” said Goliath.
Depending on the case and how much DNA is already known, Goliath said it can take hours to months to identify the person.
He and his team of MSU staff and students will go to Pearl to conduct a bio profile.
With the equipment, they’ll be able to determine facts like the age, race, or sex of the deceased.
Goliath said the team has been working with law enforcement on missing person cases since January 2022.
“What we’re trying to do here at Mississippi State is build a forensic laboratory, similar to what we have in Pearl. But right now, based on our contract, we then go down to Pearl to work with those cases because they have all the resources at that Pearl crime lab,” said Goliath.
Goliath said MSU’s forensic lab is mainly used for teaching or cold cases.
Mississippi Bureau of Investigations and other agencies also helped with the search.
Law enforcement said there is no danger to the public at this time.
This investigation is still ongoing.
