Police Make Initial ID of Remains Found Near Vernon School

Authorities are working to identify the skeletal remains found near a middle school in Vernon on Thursday and said they believe the bones belong to an adult male.

Police said a hiker found the skeleton in the woods behind the Vernon Center Middle School on West Street around noon Thursday, about a mile away from where a woman's skull was found a year and a half ago.

An autopsy is scheduled for Friday. Authorities have made a preliminary identification of the skeleton found Thursday but are awaiting autopsy results from the medical examiner's office.

Vernon police are asking the public to help identify woman whose remains were found in March 2013 and have released a sketch of her face.

The remains will not be publicly identified until family members have been contacted. Police are investigating to determine how and why the perosn died.

Police said the remains do not belong to any of three missing women who disappeared between 1968 and 1974 and were never found.

"Although it would be wonderful to have Lisa resting in peace with my mom, I hope some family finds closure from this discovery," said Aprille Falletti, whose sister, Lisa Joy White, disappeared 40 years ago when she was 13.

The skeleton is also separate from the remains found almost exactly a mile away in March 2013.

Middle school students were not affected by the police presence, and all school activities continued as planned, according to Vernon Supt. Mary Conway.

Authorities are also working to identify the woman whose remains were found last year, but said earlier this week that tests revealed the woman was in her 40s.

A Quinnipiac University medical student used the biological profile from post-mortem exams and drew a sketch of what the woman might have looked like. Police released it earlier this week, in the hopes that the woman's family or friends will recognize features and come forward with new leads.

The mother of a New Haven woman who has been missing for around 10 years said police took a DNA sample from her on Tuesday.  

No evidence has linked either of the two missing persons cases to the remains found last year, according to New Haven police.

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