RICHMOND, Va.— The public has been beckoned to help identify eight individuals found dead in Virginia, dating back to 1972.
On Tuesday, the Chief Medical Examiner unveiled the facial approximations of eight unidentified individuals found dead in the central Virginia area, whose remains were found in separate locations between 1972 and 2014.
The facial models represent the five men and three women. There are currently 283 unidentified people statewide, with some remains dating back to the 1960s.
Three individuals were discovered at separate locations and times in Stafford County (1990, 1991 and 1998), two in Caroline County (1988), one in Henrico County (2014), one is James City County (1976) and one in York County (1972).
The remains of a woman found in 1998, in Stafford County, were found by a group of hunters in a bag left in the woods.
The most recent remains discovered, in Henrico, were found Tuesday, Jan. 28, in a wooded area near the 800 block of Wales Drive in Highland Springs.
The remains have been identified as belonging to a Hispanic male around 4 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 3 inches tall and between 20-35 years old, Henrico Police spokeswoman Lt. Linda Toney wrote in an email.
“We hope that by presenting the facial approximations to the public someone will recognize one of these individuals as their long lost loved one,” said Chief Medical Examiner William Gormley, PhD, MD. “We’re working with local law enforcement authorities to help identify these individuals, and we encourage anyone with information that may lead to identifying these individuals profiled to contact us.”
Forensic anthropologists and artists with the FBI’s Forensic Anthropology Services and Forensic Imaging Unit constructed the facial approximations.
The photographs of the facial approximations have been entered into the case files of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems (NamUs) which is a federally funded, massive search engine which helps facilitate matching missing and unidentified persons.
