Bull Valley boy finds human skull near mailbox; police find another

A 12-year-old Bull Valley boy found a human skull while waiting for the school bus Tuesday morning, and authorities later found a second human skull nearby.

McHenry County Deputy Coroner Kim Bostic said the skulls don't appear to be connected to any missing person cases and don't appear to show signs of injuries.

Though it is not yet known how old the skulls are, Bostic said their bleached appearance could be attributed to exposure to the elements.

Tarren Garcia said he walked down his driveway on the 1500 block of Cherry Valley Road shortly after 7 a.m. to catch the bus and saw the skull on the ground a few feet away. At first he thought it was a dead bird, but then realized it was a skull, he said.

“It was kind of scary,” Tarren said. “I knew I missed the bus, I went inside to tell my mom. I told her there was a skull, and it wasn't an animal skull because there was no snout.”

Bull Valley Police Chief Richard Vance said the department searched the area Wednesday and no other human remains were found. Vance said the department is awaiting examination results from a forensic pathologist in Indianapolis where the skulls were sent.

“We won't know information until the pathologist looks at them,” Vance said. “At this point we have no idea how old they are or where they came from.”

Tarren's mother, Leanne See-Garcia, said she called authorities right after her son told her about his discovery, then she took him to school.

“If he hadn't missed the bus, I think he would have just gone to school,” See-Garcia said. Tarren said he wasn't sure what he would have done if the school bus had arrived.

A couple of hours later See-Garcia decided to pick up the skull with a plastic bag because no one had shown up yet, she said. Bull Valley police arrived at about 3 p.m. Tuesday and began searching the area, including a corn field across the street, she said. Cadaver dogs were used as well in the search that extended into Wednesday, she said.

The second skull was found near a pine tree at the edge of the property, not too far from the first skull, she said.

See-Garcia said she believes the skull her son found was left there by someone — possibly thrown out of a vehicle — sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning. “We're always out there. My husband or I, somebody would have seen it” if it had been there for a longer period, she said.

Bull Valley police also received assistance from the McHenry County sheriff's office, the Lake County sheriff's office, police departments from Crystal Lake, Bannockburn and McHenry, the Illinois and Wisconsin Search and Rescue Dogs unit, and the McHenry County Emergency Management Agency.

Preliminary results from the examination of the skulls are expected in the next few days, authorities said.