Human skeletal remains found inside cave

The Department of Public Safety reports that human skeletal remains were found in a cave by Banzai Cliff last Sunday and despite initially thinking the remains were from World War II, the Historic Preservation Office determined that the bones found were post WWII and may have been buried there within the last 20 years.

Yesterday, DPS issued a press release reporting the discovery of human skeletal remains by Banzai Cliff in Marpi.

“At 1:14pm On Sunday July 7, DPS received a report of human skeletal remains that were discovered inside a cave by the Banzai Cliff in Marpi. Officers learned that a group of hikers were exploring inside a cave when they discovered human skeletal remains along with artifacts that appeared to be from World War II. Officers were also guided to another cave where additional human skeletal remains were discovered,” said the press release.

Although initially thinking the remains dated back to WWII, HPO debunked the theory and confirmed the bones to be post WWII.

“The next day, July 8, personnel from the Historic Preservation Office did an examination of skeletal remains and determined that some of the bones were less than 20 years old and that were not remains that dated back to the war,” said the press release.

In an interview with DPS Commissioner Anthony Macaranas, he said that detectives from the Criminal Investigation Bureau and Crime Scene Investigators are currently investigating the scene and DPS is unable to determine whether foul play is a factor.

“The remains belong to just one person. It has yet to be clarified how the bones were found but the bones were found intact as one single human remain. Unfortunately, we could not confirm the age or a timeline for the bones until Monday, July 8, when a member of the Historic Preservation Office came by and determined that the bones found were not World War II remains. The bones are less than 20 years old. Right now, CIB personnel are on scene conducting an investigation to determine the origin of the bones and possibly the crime that was committed,” he said.

Macaranas added that DPS will be sending the bones off to a forensic anthropologist to get more information.

“We will be sending the bones off to a forensic anthropologist to determine the age and sex of the bones. This is the only information I can provide now until such time that I get a definitive response from my investigators as to what is the findings of their investigation.

Anthony Macaranas