DNA testing has identified a skull found in 2023 as being that of a 60-year-old man who vanished in 2016 after leaving his elderly mother sitting alone in a pickup truck on a Sunday morning in Erie in southeast Kansas.
The Neosho County Sheriff's Office received a DNA analysis Aug. 25 confirming the skull was that of Jay Shumate, that office said on its Facebook page.
Shumate's cause of death remained unknown, the sheriff's office said.
Erie, the county seat of Neosho County, has a population of about 1,050. It is located about 130 miles south/southeast of Topeka.
Large search was unsuccessful
The sheriff's office's Facebook post said the Erie Police Department responded about 7 p.m. Jan. 17, 2016, on a report that an elderly woman had been sitting since about 10 a.m. that day in a pickup truck at a business in that city.
"The woman told the officer that her son was going to a sports thing, did not want her to go and left her in the vehicle around 10 a.m.," it said. "The woman advised that her son, Jay Shumate, had left walking in an unknown direction."
The officer took the woman home, the Facebook post said.
Jay Shumate's mother, Shirley Shumate, died at age 88 in 2020, said her online obituary, which identified Jay Shumate as having preceded her in death.
A large group consisting of law enforcement officers, volunteer firefighters and other community volunteers subsequently conducted a search of the snow-covered area, the sheriff's office's Facebook post said.
Search party members were on foot, on horseback, on ATVs and in aircraft, that post said.
Jay Shumate was not found, it said.
Skull was found to be Shumate's
The sheriff's office learned on Feb. 13, 2023, that a human skull had been found the previous day, the Facebook post said.
"Investigators collected the skull and were taken to the location of this discovery," it said. "The area is prone to flooding from the river."
No other remains or clothing were found in the area, the release said.
It said the skull was tested by the forensic anthropology lab at Topeka's Washburn University, which determined it was likely from a male.
The sheriff's office next asked for help from the KBI, the Facebook post said.
It said DNA samples were collected from a member of Jay Shumate's family and DNA profiles were sent to PTC Laboratories in Texas, which determined the skull was Jay Shumate's.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at [email protected] or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: DNA test shows skull found in SE Kansas is of man who vanished in 2016
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