• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2022
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Recovery of 90% of Human Skeleton Ends Toscana Subdivision Dig for Mystery Remains

July 31, 2022 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Sheriff Rick Staly with Erin Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist at the University of South Florida, explained the dig for human remains at Toscana' development site earlier this week. (© FlaglerLive via FCSO video)
Sheriff Rick Staly with Erin Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist at the University of South Florida, explained the dig for human remains at Toscana’s development site earlier this week. (© FlaglerLive via FCSO video)

Two weeks ago workers on a development site at the Toscana subdivision off Old Kings Road unearthed portions of human remains that immediately shut down that part of the development and triggered what may have been the largest dig the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office organized to recover the rest of the find.




At one point last week the dig, stretching the length of a football field, included some 30 people from several law enforcement agencies, the Palm Coast Fire Department and a team of forensic anthropologists and interns from the University of south Florida. (See: “Human Remains Found at Toscana Development Off Old Kings Road in Palm Coast.”)

On Friday, Sheriff Rick Staly announced that the dig was declared over after the effort recovered 90 percent of a human skeleton. The investigation now enters a different stage, with efforts focused on identification through the use of DNA technology. Staly said that every missing-person file at the Sheriff’s Office includes DNA samples against which the find at Toscana will be tested.

“Our team and partners did an outstanding job in a very difficult environment,” Staly said. “Finding almost the entire skeleton will allow the medical examiner to use DNA or dental records to identify this person and hopefully the cause of death.”

Speaking to media at the site last Wednesday, Staly provided significant details about the dig, along with Erin Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist at the University of South Florida.

“We have found fragments of jaw and fragments of skull, and so far indications are that it’s one person,” Staly said, though the sex had not yet been determined. But both Staly and Kimmerle said that evidence so far place the skeleton as having died in the last 20 years or so–very possibly before ground broke at Toscana, a 200-home gated development that built its first model homes in 2010. Until proven differently, that timeline is the guiding assumption. It is also the skeleton of a single person. But no clothing, shoes or jewelry were uncovered. There had not been enough research done yet to identify the sex, an indication that DNA analysis had not yet been conducted.




“We have found two femurs,” Staly said. “If we find a third one, we have a problem. But at this point there is no indication that this is a dump site for a killer. It may be a dump site for a killer, but hopefully just one individual. And again, until we can excavate and find more of the skeletal remain, we really don’t know what happened to this individual.”

The dig had begun on a very small scale, until the arrival of the USF team, which Staly brought on because of its experience with the dig at the Dozier School for Boys. The state-run institution, or reform school, operated in Marianna, in the Panhandle, from 1900 to 2011. It was as notorious a reform school as Angola in Louisiana is as a prison–a site of abuse, torture and killings that USF’s anthropologists began unearthing in 2012. USF identified some 100 deaths at the school through its techniques.

That’s the expertise it brought to the Palm Coast dig. “They clearly have the expertise, and no one else that I know of has that kind of system in the state to be able to move this kind of dirt so quick and make sure that you don’t lose evidence or fragments,” Staly said.

“It’s a little bit different than if you know there’s a burial, you’re excavating a burial in a confined space,” Kimmerle said. “So here it’s just a matter of covering a lot of ground, you need to do all of these mounds of soil and try not to miss anything, whether that’s bone or any other evidence.” Teams would take bucket-fulls of dirt and sift it through two two screens, one a quarter inch and one an eighth-inch screen, with dirt pushed through with water.

The dig involved USF, the Palm Coast Fire Department (water use was high during the sifting), Flagler County government’s public works equipment, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Crime Scene Investigations unit, the sheriff’s CSI, and the medical examiner’s office.




“The developer did not bring any dirt into the site, so we know that everything occurred here,” Staly said.

The Sheriff’s Office is eying some of its missing-person cases, Staly said, “but until we can identify the remains we won’t know that for sure. So we’re not focused on one or two individuals. It’s not the way you do an investigation. But we have some evidence when those missing persons were investigated that would lead us to believe in this area, there might be some evidence.”

“I would like to thank our partners,” Staly said, “including Dr. Erin Kimmerle and her team from USF, the Medical Examiner’s Office, FDLE’s CSI, PCFD and Flagler County General Services for their assistance and collective herculean efforts during this excavation. I would also like to thank the developer for his patience, understanding and support, which delayed his project while we conducted this investigation.”

If anyone has information on this case, please call 386-313-4911 or CrimeStoppers of Northeast Florida at 1-888-277-TIPS (8477), where you could be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000. You can also email: [email protected] FCSO Major Case investigators are continuing the investigation.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!  
All donors' identities are kept confidential and anonymous.
   

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wow says

    July 31, 2022 at 5:28 pm

    Thank you to the team for trying to find out what happened to this poor person who may never have been found.

    Reply
  2. Shark says

    August 1, 2022 at 9:16 am

    I see the glory hound, Staly, was probably there every day. Why do we need a sheriff. Just hire another deputy to take his place. Could save millions in the long run !!!!

    Reply
    • James says

      August 1, 2022 at 1:17 pm

      Nah, I doubt it.

      Sadly it’s not really news-worthy, they find human remains in the weeds somewhere every day in FL.

      Reply
    • David Schaefer says

      August 1, 2022 at 1:18 pm

      Agree and trade in those mustangs and those cat swat vehicles.

      Reply
    • Timothy Patrick Welch says

      August 2, 2022 at 12:17 pm

      As the official spokesperson and leader isn’t it his responsibility?

      Glad to see the face of law enforcement present, as the death of some ones child is never a trivial matter.

      Reply
      • James says

        August 2, 2022 at 11:26 pm

        I kinda figured he was there for a reason… homicide. But if it’s the remains of a child, that’s even more understandable.

        Reply
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents
  • grand living realty

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Pierre Tristam on The Hung Jury Got It Right in the Monserrate Teron Trial
  • blerbfamilyfive on Why Will Furry Is Demolishing the Flagler Youth Orchestra
  • We believe the girl on The Hung Jury Got It Right in the Monserrate Teron Trial
  • DAVE on Flagler Pride Fest Is On Despite Hostile Climate, Drag Show Included, With a Few Cautionary Tucks
  • Blame Game on No, Flagler Beach Isn’t Asking for Money. It’s Asking for Cooperation from County and Cities.
  • Laurel on Behind the Divorce, a Bitter, Threat-Ridden Clash Between Waste Pro and Palm Coast Over Recycling Bins
  • Deborah Coffey on Wadsworth Elementary’s Paul Peacock Is Told He’s Done in Flagler Schools; New Principal To Be Named Later
  • Flatsflyer on Wadsworth Elementary’s Paul Peacock Is Told He’s Done in Flagler Schools; New Principal To Be Named Later
  • Greg on No, Flagler Beach Isn’t Asking for Money. It’s Asking for Cooperation from County and Cities.
  • Bailey’s Mom on Wadsworth Elementary’s Paul Peacock Is Told He’s Done in Flagler Schools; New Principal To Be Named Later
  • jake on Flagler Pride Fest Is On Despite Hostile Climate, Drag Show Included, With a Few Cautionary Tucks
  • Dennis Clark on No, Flagler Beach Isn’t Asking for Money. It’s Asking for Cooperation from County and Cities.
  • Bryan on “A Fitting Conclusion”: Family Speaks of Pilot Ray Miller’s Life of Adventure Before Crash
  • Ray W. on The Hung Jury Got It Right in the Monserrate Teron Trial
  • Ray W. on The Hung Jury Got It Right in the Monserrate Teron Trial
  • Dee on Wadsworth Elementary’s Paul Peacock Is Told He’s Done in Flagler Schools; New Principal To Be Named Later

Log in