***UPDATE***
Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said a forensic autopsy and dental examination were performed Monday morning to determine whether or not the remains matched key profile points of local missing persons.
Harwood confirmed the remains did not belong to Alexis Scott, Marc Bohannon, or Janie Sellers.
“It’s bittersweet. We’re not able to give closure to a family, unfortunately, and for that, I feel sad about,” Harwood said.
“On the other hand, it means their loved ones could still be out there, so it’s just another closed door to these investigations, unfortunately.”
He said the Peoria Police Department reached out to the families of Scott, Bohannon, and Sellers to inform them of the results.
DNA was extracted from the teeth of the remains to be sent to a lab.
“With well-preservation of remains, we can actually scrape some dentin out of the teeth to get DNA from the sample,” he said.
“Once that’s done, we can send that DNA off to have a profile created of what this person might be, being male or female, and we can get an approximate age.
“It’s amazing. I would say back in the 1970s and early ’80s this wasn’t possible.”
It takes six weeks to 18 weeks to get that profile created, depending on case load, the coroner explained.
Harwood said the rest of the remains will go to a forensic anthropologist in Champaign County to create a more expanded profile.
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GLASFORD, Ill. — Peoria County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to the 13000 block of Wheeler Rd. Saturday afternoon to meet with an individual who believed he discovered possible human skeletal remains on the bank of the Illinois River.
The remains were found by the individual at approximately 4:15 p.m., according to Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell.
“The remains that have been discovered are presumed to have been there for a prolonged period of time,” said Asbell.
Asbell said the search is complicated due to terrain, due to proximity of the river, and may require systematic excavation.
“There’s a lot of different environmental factors anytime you’re next to a large body of water,” said Asbell. “Especially any body of water that has any type of a current.”
A fairly significant area continues to be searched near where the remains were discovered.
“You always start the search off in the largest scope possible then you work inward,” said Asbell. “This will take us a significant amount of time to do this search right.”
In addition, Asbell said it is premature to speculate how the remains ended at the location along the river.
Photographs of bones discovered were immediately sent to a forensic anthropologist who confirmed the discovered remains appeared to be of a human.
Peoria Police Department, Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Natural Resources have been notified and will assist in the investigation due to the scope and large area that needs to be searched.
Anyone who may have information which will assist in the investigation is asked to call the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office at (309)-697-7822 or Greater Peoria Area Crime Stoppers at (309)-673-9000.
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