Eddie Sandoval calls her Trinity, and he still thinks of her often.
It was 10 years ago this month when construction workers unearthed her remains while digging on the west side of downtown, near the Trinity River. Police detectives examined the bones, but it quickly became evident that this was no recent homicide.
Trinity, as it turned out, died roughly 1,100 years ago. Experts determined she was probably an Indigenous woman in her 30s. Her burial site wasn’t far from where other prehistoric remains have been discovered over the years, on what was once a bluff overlooking the river.
Sandoval, who is a Native American elder, was called in to assist with a burial the following year at Oakwood Cemetery, and to ensure everything was done in accordance with Native traditions…