The case is as cold as the bones, which lay bleaching for perhaps five summers and five winters before the man's remains finally were found in remote underbrush in the White River National Forest.
The skeleton was found at what appeared to have been the campsite for a well-provisioned sleep among the pines. The man died in a sleeping bag under a domed tent with $620 in cash, 20 packs of Camel cigarettes and a pair of size 9M Timberland brown-and-black hiking boots, but with no identification. There was no sign of foul play.
"He just didn't leave his name on anything," said Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario.
The sheriff's office hopes that a possible farewell note addressed to someone called "Lib" might lead to the identification of the skeletal remains discovered nearly two years ago in the drainage of No Name Creek at about 9,700 feet elevation. The site is about 6 miles as the crow flies from Glenwood Springs, but 12 miles by the Transfer Trail out of town.
"If somebody says, 'I'm going to drive to the mountains of Colorado and kill myself,' they'll kill themselves in their car or park and walk into the forest and kill themselves," Vallario said. "But this case is not like that."
The man carried currency dated as late as 1999, leading to the conclusion he had been dead for at least five years before his remains were found Sept. 8, 2004.
His final notes, recently deciphered from a deteriorated notebook found with the skeleton, opens something like this: "I should wait in case my situation here doesn't improve. This may be the end of my journey."
The pocket-sized, green, spiral notebook has hand-drawn artwork on the cover, including some figures and what may be a cat within a heart.
After the first weathered page, the next four or five pages are increasingly difficult to interpret, but the message seems to be a request for someone to claim the corpse, cremate it and conduct a service.
The bones have offered a few clues: The man was white, about 6 feet tall and probably in his late 40s to late 50s. However, the skeleton also showed evidence of arthritis and degeneration in the bones of the neck and back, which would have caused pain while carrying a pack.
A forensic odontologist's inspection of the teeth provided more clues: The man had extensive dental work, including gold work, crowns, bridges and fillings in almost all his teeth, suggesting the man had money. So far, the leads and tips to the sheriff's office have been dead-ends. The case remains a mystery, the man's identity a needle in a haystack.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4678855,00.html
The skeleton was found at what appeared to have been the campsite for a well-provisioned sleep among the pines. The man died in a sleeping bag under a domed tent with $620 in cash, 20 packs of Camel cigarettes and a pair of size 9M Timberland brown-and-black hiking boots, but with no identification. There was no sign of foul play.
"He just didn't leave his name on anything," said Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario.
The sheriff's office hopes that a possible farewell note addressed to someone called "Lib" might lead to the identification of the skeletal remains discovered nearly two years ago in the drainage of No Name Creek at about 9,700 feet elevation. The site is about 6 miles as the crow flies from Glenwood Springs, but 12 miles by the Transfer Trail out of town.
"If somebody says, 'I'm going to drive to the mountains of Colorado and kill myself,' they'll kill themselves in their car or park and walk into the forest and kill themselves," Vallario said. "But this case is not like that."
The man carried currency dated as late as 1999, leading to the conclusion he had been dead for at least five years before his remains were found Sept. 8, 2004.
His final notes, recently deciphered from a deteriorated notebook found with the skeleton, opens something like this: "I should wait in case my situation here doesn't improve. This may be the end of my journey."
The pocket-sized, green, spiral notebook has hand-drawn artwork on the cover, including some figures and what may be a cat within a heart.
After the first weathered page, the next four or five pages are increasingly difficult to interpret, but the message seems to be a request for someone to claim the corpse, cremate it and conduct a service.
The bones have offered a few clues: The man was white, about 6 feet tall and probably in his late 40s to late 50s. However, the skeleton also showed evidence of arthritis and degeneration in the bones of the neck and back, which would have caused pain while carrying a pack.
A forensic odontologist's inspection of the teeth provided more clues: The man had extensive dental work, including gold work, crowns, bridges and fillings in almost all his teeth, suggesting the man had money. So far, the leads and tips to the sheriff's office have been dead-ends. The case remains a mystery, the man's identity a needle in a haystack.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4678855,00.html
