Illinois police analyzing Cairo bones

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Illinois State Police crime lab will work to determine the age, sex and race for human bones discovered in a wooded area near Cairo, Alexander County Coroner David Barkett said Wednesday.

Hunters discovered the bones from an incomplete skeleton Tuesday morning. Searches Wednesday in the area where the bones were found did not yield any additional remains, law enforcement officials said.

The searches, however, will continue, said Capt. Debra Landman of the Illinois State Police. "We want to make sure we have covered everything," she said.

Determining the age of the person at the time of death and the length of time since the death are important to deciding whether the area is a crime scene or an archaelogical site. The last time bare human bones were found in Alexander County was four years ago, Barkett said. Those remains, found along the Mississippi River near Thebes, Ill., were dated at 4,000 to 6,000 years old.

Southern Illinois has numerous American Indian burial sites.

Analysis of the bones will take anywhere from two weeks to two months, Barkett said.

Police refused to release details, such as how many bones were found or whether any clothing was recovered.

There is currently no reason to link the discovery of the bones with the recovery of a badly decomposed body near the boundary between Massac and Pope counties, Landman said.

That body was also discovered by hunters. Investigators are awaiting autopsy results, state police said.

Police have better leads on two other bodies recently found in Southern Illinois. The body of a Texas man was found in Williamson County Nov. 22, and an arrest has been made in the case, according to the Southern Illinoisan newspaper. Police were also pursuing leads that a charred body found near Mount Vernon, Ill., was that of an Iowa man who disappeared last week, the newspaper reported.