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ST. CHARLES, Idaho — An anthropology team from Idaho State University and the Bear Lake County Coroner have been called to help investigators recover and possibly identify human remains discovered on the Idaho side of Bear Lake Thursday, authorities say.
"They have assembled a team to come and help us in assessing and examining the area to determine if there are other remains and to help us in efforts in identification," said Bear County Sheriff Bart Heslington, standing at the shore of the lake Friday morning.
A large section of the beach at the lake's northern end remains cordoned off where beachgoers discovered the remains on Thursday. Bear Lake State Park officials said Friday that the Idaho park is still open as the investigation continues.
A group of young men were digging in the sand when they discovered the lower part of a jaw with teeth still intact shortly before 11:45 a.m., Heslington said. Deputies arrived and determined the bones to be human. The area where the jaw was recovered was possibly as deep as 2 feet deep into the ground.
Heslington said has responded "many times" to reports of skeletal remains, but this is the first time in his career where it has "proven to be the case."
The case remains a mystery at the moment. Helsington adds it's too early to know the age or sex of the human remains, or how long they were buried in the sand. There's no real timeline for an identification to be determined.
Authorities said Thursday that the county does not have any cold cases or "unrecovered individuals" who may be linked to the remains. They reached out to the Rich County Sheriff's Office in Utah, which also reported not having any active cases in the immediate area, either.
Heslington said it's possible the remains may be multiple decades old.
"We're kind of researching, historically, beyond those timelines, which are probably 35 years, to see if we have any information about any other people who are potentially missing or may have gone missing on the lake," he said. "Outside of that, everything is under investigation."
KSL had decided not to share photos of the remains until there is more information about who the person is.
Contributing: Mike Anderson
