Editors Note: This article was originally published in the Jan. 24, 2024 issue of the Chronicle Progress. Some information may be outdated.
A new bones mystery may already be underway.
A day after the Chronicle Progress published the Jan. 3 story of how Robert Holman Trent’s remains were identified almost seven decades after they were discovered, a local explorer ventured into the newspaper’s office with artifacts.
The man didn’t want his name published in this report, but shared that he and a fellow explorer had stumbled upon a half-buried, deteriorated suitcase about a mile or more south of Pot Mountain, itself located not far from the Clear Lake Refuge turnoff from S.R. 257.
Scouring the surrounding area, the explorers found an old pair of bifocals, a double-sided razor for shaving, buttons from blue jeans and possibly from a pair of long underwear—the clothing itself long disintegrated.
Only the metal bottom and corners of the suitcase remained, sticking up like tiny tombstones from the desert floor.
About 15 feet away, the men found two bones. A snapshot of one sent to a relative in nursing revealed it could be human. The second was brought to the newspaper office.
The men didn’t really know if the bones were human or not, and the artifacts were left at the newspaper office, where this reporter decided to alert authorities—bones have been our business of late.
Deputy Aaron Jurado was dispatched to the office. He took possession of the artifacts, snapped a photo of the bone and sent it to an expert with the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner. He then asked that our source take us to the site just in case.
Off this reporter and the source went into the desert.
It took nearly an hour to find the site once we got there.
While just looking around, Publisher Shellie Dutson called to let us know the police needed to respond to the scene—the bone appeared to be human after all.
This reporter marked the site’s GPS location, sent it along to deputies and left with the explorer.
We were called back to the scene that night as detectives looked to protect it from any further disturbance, but couldn’t locate it. We did as requested. After an hour or so of searching in the dark, one of the detectives walked right to the site.
Capt. Pat Bennett, who was interviewed about his recent trip to North Carolina and the repatriation of Trent’s remains to his daughter, Peggy, was asked last week whether the case is official—were human remains found out there in that desolate area?
“From what I am told, the anthropologist said that they were likely remains from a person, human bones,” he said, adding that a grid search of the area had uncovered additional personal effects, but no other bones.
The case is ongoing.
