Published: July 21, 2008 10:23 am         

Bones mystery probed

LAGRANGE, Ind. — LaGrange County police have been called in to help solve a mystery involving a box of human bones an Illinois man purchased.

According to the Southtown Star newspaper, John Ray of Park Forest, Ill. is a collector who has the bones. He told Illinois police and reporters that he purchased the bones at an estate auction in Shipshewana in 1982.

Ray said he purchased a 150-year-old book titled “The History of the American Indian” and packaged with the book was the box of bones.

The Star reported that Ray said he tried to return the bones to the auctioneer, who would not take them back.

The bones then were stored in Ray’s basement until this month when he decided to go public with his story by calling the newspaper.

Police are now involved in investigating if the bones are those from a murder victim. The reason for that is that Ray told reporters that the auctioneer said the bones were from a young man murdered in a bar in either Michigan or Minnesota.

LaGrange County Sheriff Terry Martin said he was contacted by Illinois police about the bones. Now county detectives are going through boxes of old paper files one by one searching for any clues.

Martin said he can’t understand why Ray would wait 26 years to report the existence of the bones to police.

“Something doesn’t sound right,” Martin said. “I think someone dug up some individual’s bones and sold them.”

The sheriff said he does not know of any open missing person cases in the county.

Shipshewana Marshal Tom Fitch was also contacted by Illinois police. However, the Shipshewana marshal’s office had not been created when the bones were sold. That means it’s a county case.

According to the sheriff, Indiana has strict rules on the possession of human remains.

“If he was in this state we would take them from him,” Martin said.

The News attempted to contact Ray without success.