Police in Vernon are considering the discovery of human remains a suspicious death.
At a press conference held Saturday afternoon, police confirmed that it was a single victim found and are now calling it a crime scene.
Police intensified their search Friday after the discovery of human remains. Investigators spent the day looking for clues after someone stumbled upon what appeared to be a human skull by the old landfill near West Street on Wednesday.
Detectives scoured the dense property with cadaver dogs on Friday, and said they recovered a significant amount of evidence, although they would not specify on what that evidence could be. They also had no indication of who the remains belonged to.
“I'm just hoping it’s Lisa, so we could end this thing,” said Gerald Kelly. He questioned if the skull was Lisa White’s. He would have been her stepfather.
Lisa vanished when she was 13 back in 1974, and lived just a short distance from the search site.
“It was brutal, it was brutal,” he added.
Kelly said police told White’s loved ones the skull belonged to a young woman. Sources close to the family tell NBC Connecticut, White used to play in the area by the landfill and authorities asked the family for dental records.
“If this gets out there enough someone’s going to say who did what when,” Kelly explained.
People in the Vernon community also wondered if the remains belonged with Lisa White, or two other girls who vanished decades ago. Janice Pockett from Tolland was last seen in July of 1973.
Debra Spickler was visiting family in Vernon when she went missing in July of 1968. Police would not speculate on any of this.
“It’s a very active and very early investigation so we can't comment on any evidence or our findings right now,” said Lt. William Meier.
Detectives said it could take a while to find some answers, and their results might give a family some closure. “You would like to get the person responsible that's number one,” said Gerald Kelly.
Vernon Police told NBC Connecticut they would search the property through the weekend, and possibly into next week. The search spans over several acres of land.
Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut/Debra Bogstie