Sketch Artist Hopes To Help ID Embalmed Head Found In Beaver Co.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) - Police in Beaver County are hoping that a sketch artist's rendering will help them identify the embalmed head of a woman that was found in the woods last week.
Investigators have a real-life mystery to solve.
A stake marks where the embalmed head of a woman was found by a teenager in woods just off Mason Road last Friday in Economy Borough.
J.J. Grabner, a retired railroad engineer, was pulling out of his driveway when he noticed crows making a racket on Dec. 12 and saw a police officer, a boy and a neighbor by the side of the road.
"We found out that there was a head lying right down there where that post is," said Grabner.
The woman's head was well-preserved. She likely died in her 50s or 60s. The head appeared to be cleanly sawed from the body, the hair carefully styled.
Grabner says it couldn't have been there long.
"Because the animals, and there's so many raccoons and coyotes and crows, and so many other birds here, birds of prey that would have hauled it down into the woods, you would have never found it," Grabner said.
Despite a day-long search by Beaver County detectives, Economy Borough Police and firefighters, no other remains were found.
A Pittsburgh Police sketch artist is involved.
Authorities have also taken DNA samples, and are checking dental record trying to get an identification.
"It's very puzzling to say the least," Grabner said. "How you could just come up with a human head. It's beyond belief. It's very disturbing to a lot of people in the area."
The Beaver County Coroner, Teri Tatalovich-Rossi told KDKA that this is a perplexing case, but that they are working diligently to get answers and hope to release new information before too long.
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