KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A medical examiner has confirmed that the human bones found inside a box at a Kingston home in July belonged to five different individuals.
According to the Knox County Regional Forensic Center autopsy report obtained by 6 News, the bones were found inside a box in the garage of a vacated rental property by individuals hired to clean out the home. The report said the 80-year-old owner of that home, who currently lives in Georgia, told investigators that the bones belonged to a Cherokee Indian, were found in a cave in Roane County, he had known about the bones since he was 10 years old, and they were supposed to be donated to the University of Tennessee’s Anthropology Department.
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The Roane County Medical Examiner’s Office sent the bones to the Knox County Regional Forensic Center for an autopsy, anthropological consult, and assistance in final disposition. The autopsy report states that there is a minimum of four individuals whose bones were found inside the Kingston home, although the report lists five numbered individuals.
From the first individual, the report stated there was a portion of the left side of the pelvis and three right ribs that were developmentally immature, leading the medical examiner to believe the individual they belonged to was between 13 and 18 years old. Notably, the medical examiner wrote that because the bones had been defleshed, it was highly unlikely that they were the remains of a Native American origin…