Skull Found by Loggers Identified 32 Years Later

By Alex Morgan. Sep 2, 2026

Loggers Found the Remains in 1994

A partial human skull found by loggers near a California campsite more than three decades ago finally has a name. Investigators say the remains belonged to George Krusely, a man who had last been known to be in California in 1963.

The discovery was made July 7, 1994, near Putt Lake in Placer County. CBS Sacramento reported that detectives at the time believed the remains may already have been at the site for as long as a year.

Investigators collected the remains and other items from the area, but the evidence did not reveal who the person was or how he died.

The Case Sat Without an Identity

For years, the unidentified remains stayed connected to a place rather than a person: a campsite in the Sierra Nevada near Nyack, just off Interstate 80.

A cause of death was never determined. Authorities also still do not know exactly how long Krusely had been dead before the partial skull was discovered.

What they did know was that the evidence had survived long enough for forensic science to eventually give investigators another chance.

DNA Led to a Living Relative

People and CBS Sacramento reported that investigators developed a DNA profile from the evidence and turned to investigative genetic genealogy. Researchers at Ramapo College of New Jersey helped trace the profile through family lines.

The work was difficult because Krusely had Croatian and Yugoslavian ancestry, populations that investigators said were less represented in the databases available to the genealogy team.

The search eventually led to a living descendant. Police in Lordstown, Ohio, helped obtain a DNA sample, and investigators said it matched the profile developed from the California remains.

A Name Solves One Part of the Mystery

Krusely was born in 1929 and had been last known to be in California in 1963. That creates an unusually long gap between the last known trace of the man and the identification of remains found decades later.

The identification answers the most basic question in the case: whose remains were found near the campsite. It does not explain how Krusely died or when he reached the area where the skull was discovered.

For the Placer County cold-case team, however, the name itself represents a major break. Thirty-two years after loggers made the discovery, the remains are no longer listed only as an unknown person.

References: Partial Human Skull Found by Loggers Finally Identified | Remains Found Near Placer County Campsite Identified