In an overgrown lot near Eugene Airport on Monday, lineman Kevin Debates, was cutting trees away from power lines when he stumbled upon a human skull. Bones lay scattered around the skull as if gnawed upon by hungry animals, he said.
Debates left the skull to call the police, and after two days of examination, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office has determined that the bones are the remains of Phillip Daniel Steng, a man who lived nearby and disappeared in December 2003, said Sgt. Clint Riley.
“The bones were completely skeltonized,” Riley said.
While working to preserve the evidence, Riley said, police and researchers from the University’s Anthropology Department found a wallet among the remains containing Steng’s driver’s license and credit cards. The team worked until dark Monday and began again at dawn Tuesday to move the remains to a coroner, who, upon examining medical and dental records for Steng, confirmed that the remains belonged to the missing man.
Steng, born in 1977, walked away from his house in Junction City on December 13, 2003, never to be seen again, his missing persons report states. His family has been informed of the recent discovery, Riley said.