Skeletal remains found in the Joppa area in June 2000 are still unidentified nearly 10 years later, and a homicide has not been ruled out.
On June 30, 2000, a worker with the Ronkin Construction Company found bones in a wooded area between Pauls Lane and Joppa Road.
Police estimated the skeletal remains had been there for about two years, according to Cpl. Justin Gross, of the Maryland State Police and Harford County Sheriff’s Office joint criminal investigation unit.
Police believe the man may have been murdered.
The remains belonged to a 25- to 30-year-old black man with a medium build. He was between 5 feet 7 inches tall and 6 feet 5 inches tall and had two fillings in his teeth.
The skeletal remains were found propped against a tree with a pair of black sweat pants, a black leather jacket, green shorts and brown work-style boots. A package of corn removers and a revolver were also found near the remains.
According to a story in The Aegis shortly after the remains were found, police had also found a handgun near the body in the 1200 block of Pauls Lane in Joppa.
Investigators with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office believed at the time the man may have been traveling.
The gun was stolen in a burglary in Baltimore County (in 1994, according to an Aegis news report in 20000, and it did not help in finding the man’s identity, Gross said.
Follow-ups with missing persons reports have been fruitless.
More recently, police distributed fliers in the area where the remains were found in the hopes that someone would remember helpful details.
“It’s safe to say this is a case that is being worked on,” Gross said last week.
Still, nearly 10 years after his bones were discovered, his identity and the circumstances surrounding his death remain a mystery.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Gross at 443-307-6473.