Human remains found in Mesa County desert

CMU Forensic Investigative Research
Station members working with MCSO

MESA COUNTY, Colo - The Mesa County Sheriff's Office is currently investigating human remains found in the north desert of Mesa County.

Tuesday hikers found skeletal remains near 16 Road and the desert on BLM land.

CMU Forensic Investigative Research
Station members working with MCSO

All day Wednesday, the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, the Mesa County Coroner's Office and Mesa County Surveyor worked with students and faculty from the Colorado Mesa University Forensic Investigative Research Station to recover the remains.

CMU’s Forensic Investigative Research Station (FIRS) is one of only six forensic investigation facilities in the world and the only one located in an arid climate at a high elevation. FIRS offers undergraduate students the opportunity to study and research the decomposition of human remains.

The students helped investigators excavate the remains and process the scene.

MCSO deputies map the site with
County Survveyor

The Sheriff's Office is working closely with the Coroner's Office to positively identify the remains that are believed to belong to an adult.

Investigators are currently reviewing missing person cases to see if the remains may be related.

The circumstances surrounding the human remains will continue to be under investigation.