Fragments of 10 to 20 human skulls have been discovered in a burned-out house in a small town in New Mexico, raising unsettling questions about who the bones belonged to and how the people died, investigators said this week.
The Lea County sheriff, Corey Helton, said that the bones had been discovered this month inside a dilapidated property in Jal, N.M., which is home to about 2,200 people in the arid southeastern corner of the state, by the Texas border.
Sheriff Helton said that investigators had sent the fragments to a state lab for testing and potential identification, which could take up to a month. He said investigators didn’t know if the bones were ancient, if they had been purchased online, or if they could be linked to any missing persons or homicide cases.
“Everything is based on what we find out from the anthropologist, which will dictate what direction we go,” he said.
Sheriff Helton said that investigators were exploring whether some of the skull pieces might be linked to the disappearance of a Jal resident, Angela McManes, 43, who was last seen in May 2019. She lived on the same street as the property where the fragments were discovered, Sheriff Helton said.
Ms. McManes’s children were 18, 16, and 14 when she disappeared, leaving behind her wallet, phone, cigarettes and diabetes medication, her sister, Kris Kelton, said.
“She was one of the most protective moms,” Ms. Kelton said. “So that’s how we knew something went awry, because she wouldn’t have just up and left her kids.”
Over the years, the family has passed out fliers and put up missing posters, but has never had any solid breaks in the case, Ms. Kelton said. Now, she said, the family is waiting anxiously for results from the state lab.
“We are praying for the best — hoping, if nothing else, it will at least give my dad and the kids and the family closure,” Ms. Kelton said. “But at this moment, it’s still unknown.”
The sheriff’s office said that the fragments were found after an investigator received a report on Nov. 5 from a Jal resident who had “an unsettling encounter” while giving a ride to a man named Cecil Villanueva, who was squatting in the charred home.
The resident reported that Mr. Villanueva had thrown what appeared to be bones out of the window of his truck while making “alarming statements,” the sheriff’s office. Sheriff Helton said the man had also found a bone in his truck.
Subsequent searches near a convenience store and the property revealed bone fragments that a pathologist later confirmed to be human, the sheriff’s office said.
On Nov. 6, investigators executed a search warrant at the property, uncovering additional bone fragments, including parts of a skull and a jawbone, prompting investigators to call in forensic experts.
On Nov. 9, a forensic anthropologist and a team of investigators conducted a comprehensive search of the property, discovering parts of 10 to 20 skulls, Sheriff Helton said.
He has been charged with criminal trespass, court records show, and was being held in jail on Thursday. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
Ms. Kelton said that she did not know of any connection between her sister and Mr. Villanueva, although she said that she had seen him around Jal. “He used to walk the streets quite often, but no personal encounters with him at all,” she said.
Ms. Kelton said the family had a lot of questions about the bones, but was hopeful they could signal the end of their search for Ms. McManes.
“I view it as a glimmer of hope because it can bring closure to our family, especially my dad and the kids,” she said. “They deserve to know something.”
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