Human skull found in Kane County Forest Preserve

It may take weeks or months to know anything – age, gender or even an identity – regarding a skull found Sunday in Raceway Woods Forest Preserve, according to Kane County officials.

Carpentersville police were called to the forest preserve off Route 31 when a person walking there “discovered what appeared to be a human skull in the woods,” according to information provided by Paul Burger, chief of police for the Forest Preserve District of Kane County.

Burger said an officer from his office was sent to assist in the investigation, which was first reported as a suspicious circumstance, at about 5:12 p.m.

About 8 p.m. Sunday, several police SUVs could be seen parked – hood to trunk in a line parallel to the road – in a grassy area across from the 100 block of North Western Avenue-Route 31.

“The preliminary investigation conducted by (Carpentersville police)and the Kane County Coroner’s Office determined that the skull was in fact human, had been exposed to the elements for some time,” Burger said in an email.

A forensic anthropologist has been contacted to take control of the skull, said Maureen Kelly, public information officer for the coroner’s office.

“It will take weeks or months to deliver a report on gender, features, DNA. We will not have anything definitive anytime soon,” Kelly said.

No additional leads have been generated by the evidence collected at the scene, Burger said.

No information will be released about where the skull was found inside the forest preserve, Kelly said, “Law enforcement might have to go out to find other bones. We are afraid others will find out and mess around out there.”