By Chuck Hustmyre
(Continued)
According to Sheriff Tronrud, all of the bones were in place. "They were skeletal remains because they were basically picked clean," the sheriff said. "We were short a few teeth, but that was it. Everything else was still intact."
One thing that stood out was the body's lack of clothing. Other than the boots and the thermal underwear pulled down around the ankles, there wasn't much there. A pair of sweat pants lay nearby and the remnants of what looked like a sports bra partially covered the chest. On the ground near the body was a fanny pack with a nearly full bottle of water inside.
Whatever else she—the presence of the sports bra and the relatively small stature of the skeleton suggested a female, perhaps a young female—had been wearing was gone.
 |
| Heather Brianna Wilkins |
Tuesday, three days after the discovery of the skeleton, forensic pathologist Tom Bennett identified the remains through dental records as being those of 17-year-old Heather "Brianna" Wilkins of Livingston, Mont. Brianna had last been seen walking away from her home, 30 miles from where her body was found, at about 4:00 p.m. on Jan. 11.
Although identifying the body was fairly routine, establishing the cause of death was not. There were no obvious injuries such as a fractured skull or signs of bullet or stab wounds, and because there was no flesh left on the bones, Bennett had no way to check for soft tissue damage.
On the death certificate, Dr. Bennett listed the cause of death as "undetermined."
After a couple of days of investigating, and conducting what he calls a "social autopsy," Sheriff Tronrud concluded that Brianna had not died as a result of a crime.
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