WISCONSIN

Skull uncovered on Wauwatosa property

Maggie Angst
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Skull and bone fragments were found during a basement excavation Friday at this site in the 1700 block of Underwood Ave. in Wauwatosa.

Investigators from the Wisconsin Department of Justice were sifting through dirt on an empty lot in Wauwatosa on Saturday after skull and bone fragments were found during a basement excavation Friday, according to police.

Officers responded at about 10:30 a.m. Friday to the 1700 block of Underwood Ave. for a report of a skull found by contractors.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office was sent a photo of the skull Friday and indicated it appeared to be that of a human, according to police.

The land has been vacant for about three years since a house on the site was torn down, said Judy Persin, whose daughter, Amy, owns the property.

Her daughter, who lives in California, had recently won approval from the City of Wauwatosa to build a new home on the site, Persin said.

No additional information, including the age or gender of the deceased, or how long the remains have been in the ground, was available, police said.

The medical examiner plans to conduct an examination Monday.

This is not the first time a skull was uncovered in Wauwatosa prompting and an investigation. A partial skull was found by a fisherman in the Menomonee River in April 2008.

At that time, some suspected the skull may have belonged to Nahida Khatib, a 30-year-old Lebanese-born woman who disappeared from her nearby home in 1976 in the midst of an ugly divorce. However, DNA analysis showed the skull did not match Khatib.