Police: It will take time to ID body found in Red Butte Creek
June 21st, 2010 @ 3:25pm
SALT LAKE CITY -- Police say it could take some time, before the remains found at the University of Utah are identified. Two Chevron workers cleaning up an oil spill found the remains in Red Butte Creek Sunday.
An autopsy was performed on the body Monday afternoon, and University of Utah police are now waiting for the results. They say because the body was so badly decomposed, it may have been in the creek for months.
Police know very little about the remains, including whether they are that of a man or woman. They say there's nothing to indicate foul play. There were some clothes on the body but no identification.
Police say, generally, when a body is such advanced stages of decomposition, the medical examiner will look at bone structure to determine its gender. They say the skeleton can also reveal height and weight. This can be a time-consuming process.
"It takes time to get dental records, if you have any dental records, but then you have to have an idea of who the person might be; and at this point in time, we don't have any idea of who this person might be," said Capt. Lynn Mitchell, with the University of Utah Police Department.
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