TERRE HAUTE — Human remains found in a vehicle pulled from the Wabash River on Friday have been identified as those of Scott Javins.
On Saturday, Dr. Stephen Nawrocki, a forensic anthropologist, and his team from the University of Indianapolis recovered a human skull and mandible, or lower jaw, according to a news release from Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt.
A comparative analysis by Dr. John R. Mast of the remains with Javins’ dental records confirmed the match.
Javins has been missing since May 24, 2002. His family and friends have been searching various fields and bodies of water in Vigo and surrounding counties since then in hopes of making any type of discovery. A tip to police Friday morning led them to the Wabash River, near the eastern bank just south of Fairbanks Park and the Terre Haute Family Y, where the Indiana State Police Area Three Dive Team located the vehicle.
Nawrocki and his forensics crew arrived shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday at the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department to sift through the silt and debris that has filled the 2002 Honda Civic Si.
The identification was made between 4 and 4:30 p.m., Chief Deputy Prosecutor Rob Roberts said outside the area where the vehicle was processed.
About a quarter of the silt and debris was excavated from the vehicle when the skull and mandible were discovered, the news release stated.
By about 8:15 p.m., the team had finished going through the back seat and were beginning to clear out the hatch, Roberts said.
Officials were disposing of the mud and silt in the parking lot.
It was too early for officials to make any statements about the cause of death, Roberts said.
Chief Deputy Jake Compton of the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department said remains of only one body were found in the car, but declined to comment on anything else that may have been found.
About 9:30 Saturday night, Nawrocki and his team packed the remains in a van for transport to the University of Indianapolis for further analysis in hopes of determining a cause of death.
Roberts said authorities don’t expect Nawrocki’s report for at least three weeks.
Police detectives working the case will continue with the vehicle analysis Tuesday, Roberts said.
Because the investigation is ongoing, Roberts could not comment on whether or not police have received any more tips or leads since the vehicle’s discovery, or if they are questioning any suspects or people of interest.
Though Vigo County Coroner Dr. Roland Kohr wasn’t at the processing Saturday, he was able to comment on the effect the river water could have on a body submerged in it for more than five years.
“You’re going to have virtually the entire loss of all soft tissues, so you would expect to have virtually nothing left but skeletal remains,” he said.
It is different from being in the bathtub or a swimming pool for too long, in that there are a variety of bacteria and enzymes involved in the decomposition process in addition to the river life that affects the process, he said.
“Bones will survive quite well,” Kohr said, “but almost everything else is going to be gone.”
Still, there are techniques and things to look for that can be used in determining the cause of death.
“Examining the skeletal remains, we can often see evidence of blunt-force trauma, gunshots, sharp-force trauma,” he said, “but that’s why we bring in an expert like Dr. Nawrocki. He can gather bones even when they’ve been separated, reassemble things, verify what’s not there and look for injuries within those.”
With no tissues or fluids, Kohr said it would be “extremely difficult, but not impossible” to tell if someone had been drugged or poisoned.
The containment of the remains inside the vehicle, however, could aid forensics investigators.
“There’s not going to be dispersion,” Kohr said. “If we’d had a body in the woods for five years, I would have expected various animals to have carried off smaller parts and you might find large bones, but much of everything else would be scattered throughout the woods and never be recovered. So in that regard, the fact that it’s been in one spot, covered with mud has kind of preserved things.”
Kohr said finding anything is helpful in the search for answers.
“There’s always something to be learned,” he said. “Obviously the more time goes by, the less optimal things are, but it never totally takes away all the answers unless there’d be nothing recovered.”
Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.
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