# How often are skeletons in the closet or shallow graves discovered? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2014, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410 "2014-04-18T12:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/1 "2014-04-18T12:26:24Z")
How often does it occur that human remains are found by chance and the circumstances are such that it is obvious that a crime was committed many decades or centuries ago? I’m especially interested in cases that were up to that point either unknown or long forgotten, i. e. **not “cold cases”** which are (to some degree) still on the radar of law enforcement authorities. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/2 "2014-04-18T12:53:58Z")
How far back would you want to go ? The very dust about us contains elements of the millions who have existed/exited since humans began. To find evidence of a crime, say a hatchet to the head, will make archaeologists squeal if over 200 years ago; under 50 years the law yawns and says: ‘_I’ll get 'round to it_.’; in between the papers announce ‘_Curious Discovery_’ and it passes with the fading of the day. _Now since these dead bones have already out lasted the living ones of Methuselah, and in a yard under ground and thin wall of clay, outworn all the strong and specious buildings above it ; and quietly rested under the drums and trampling of three conquests…_ ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/3 "2014-04-18T13:10:09Z")
Yes, these kind of cases. One might assume that this is relatively common, but I have to say that at the top of my head, I really can’t think of a single one. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/4 "2014-04-18T13:35:32Z")
Well, often it’s impossible to tell if they’re cold cases or unreported crimes if you can’t identify the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/5 "2014-04-18T15:28:57Z")
[‘Murder’ body found at Hadrian’s Wall was from overseas](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/murder-body-found-at-hadrians-wall-was-from-overseas-8084214.html) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/6 "2014-04-18T15:37:36Z")
[Body found during Easter egg hunt](http://wwlp.com/2014/04/18/body-found-during-kids-easter-egg-hunt/) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/7 "2014-04-18T16:00:43Z")
I can’t recall the name but just a few months ago I posted a followup to a thread of a family of 4 who had disappeared a few years ago in California and whose remains were found by an offroad motorcyclist–apparently an animal had dug up some of the bones and they were laying on the surface of the ground. And currently in the news is a woman who killed a half dozen of her babies and stored them in the garage–and her ex-husband found them while cleaning out that garage. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/8 "2014-04-18T16:18:30Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > [‘Murder’ body found at Hadrian’s Wall was from overseas](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/murder-body-found-at-hadrians-wall-was-from-overseas-8084214.html) Thats’s precisely what I was looking for. Imagine that! ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/9 "2014-04-18T16:20:06Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [Body found during Easter egg hunt](http://wwlp.com/2014/04/18/body-found-during-kids-easter-egg-hunt/) I guess this death must have occured fairly recent? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/10 "2014-04-18T16:30:00Z")
I just watched the NOVA episode about bog bodies in Europe. What appeared to be sacrificial victims killed in grotesque and violent ways about 2500-3000 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/11 "2014-04-18T17:27:26Z")
[Archaeologists uncover 900-year-old murder victim during dig at Scottish Seabird Centre](http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/archaeologists-uncover-900-year-old-murder-victim-during-dig-at-scottish-seabird-cent.1392988426) ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/12 "2014-04-18T17:41:03Z")
[Solving Scotland’s oldest murder mystery](http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/solving-scotland-s-oldest-murder-mystery-1-1115591) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/13 "2014-04-18T18:12:24Z")
I once worked in an archaeological office drawing shards: there was a cardboard box filled with the 800 ? yr-old remains of a teenage girl, maybe a nun, at which I did not look: prolly no crime. The next town over has in a church that I watch being locked up occasionally, the exhibited head of an Archbishop, at which I have never looked: definitely a known crime, by bold rebels. Bones last longer in Europe than on the east coast of America: this isn’t always a blessing. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/14 "2014-04-18T20:03:37Z")
‘Bones found under excavation for new driveway’ - [Human skull and femur bone found buried under family home after workmen rip up driveway on ancient Saxon burial site | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2605468/Human-skull-femur-bone-buried-family-home-workmen-rip-driveway-ancient-Saxon-burial-site.html) ---
**Author:** ![funkycoldmedina1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@funkycoldmedina1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funkycoldmedina1)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/15 "2014-04-18T21:25:51Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > I can’t recall the name but just a few months ago I posted a followup to a thread of a family of 4 who had disappeared a few years ago in California and whose remains were found by an offroad motorcyclist–apparently an animal had dug up some of the bones and they were laying on the surface of the ground. [![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RXORDs41w84/UikBJK4lk0I/AAAAAAAAJM0/OFsVPEHVoNU/s400/Walter+White.jpg) ](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RXORDs41w84/UikBJK4lk0I/AAAAAAAAJM0/OFsVPEHVoNU/s400/Walter+White.jpg) Wanted for questioning. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-are-skeletons-in-the-closet-or-shallow-graves-discovered/686410/16 "2014-04-18T22:33:36Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > [Solving Scotland’s oldest murder mystery](http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/solving-scotland-s-oldest-murder-mystery-1-1115591) The cold case squad better get going and interview witnesses! Someone has escaped justice. Can’t let them get away with it.