Family Says Human Skulls Found at Dump Were Stolen

Days after two human skulls turned up at a Stamford dump along with books on Satan and witchcraft, a family from Stratford has come forward to say they think the skulls belong to them.

Stamford and Stratford police have been in contact as the case unfolded, according to Stamford police Sgt. Paul Guzda, who said two skulls were reported missing from a Stratford mauseoleum a decade ago.

Stratford residents with family ties to the mauseoleum told News 12 Connecticut they believe the skulls found in Stamford are the ones that were stolen 10 years ago.

"It looked to me like a car had crashed into a mausoleum, but as I got closer, I could tell someone must have broke [sic] the shutter on the mausoleum and slid the casket down," said Bill Forth, of Stratford Monument Works, who discovered that the skulls were missing and called police.

Forth, who has worked in the monument business for 40 years, said someone must have pried open the caskets and taken the skulls from inside.

"It's a horrible thing to happen. You always think of the family," Forth said. "You can't explain it. It's just a crazy world we live in and who knows what's going to happen next."

Guzda said the skulls are still being examined as part of the investigation. Police will conduct DNA tests to determine whether they match the skulls stolen from Stratford.

Police said the skulls found in Stamford on Thursday belonged to a Fairfield man in his 50s who collected occult paraphernalia and had recently died.

The man's father, 89-year-old Robert DiVitto, found the skulls when he was cleaning out his son's room. DiVitto said on Friday that he didn't know the skulls were real and that his son bought them "as a joke," according to the Associated Press.

Crews from Junkluggers, a New York-based junk removal company, thought the skulls were plastic decorations when they took them to the dump while doing a junk removal job.

Police said a transfer station employee found the skulls while sifting through garbage at 1 Pumping Station Road on Oct. 30.

For his part, Forth said he hopes the DNA matches up so the family can have some closure and put their skulls back into the caskets where they belong.