Adams county bones believed to be from child

Identity not yet confirmed

ADAMS COUNTY — Bones found in a rural Adams County field earlier this month are believed to belong to a child, the sheriff's office confirmed Thursday.

The identity of the partial skull found in the recently burned field will not be known for the next few weeks, but forensic tests are leading officers to believe the bone pieces belonged to children. The area has been previously searched for missing children in two separate cases in recent years.

Adams County investigators searched the field on the Adams and Franklin county line looking for bones three times earlier this month. The bones were sent to a forensic anthropologist in Seattle, who confirmed the skull is that of a child, and other bones submitted were from animals.

Arrangements are being made to send the partial skull to the University of North Texas in Fort Worth for DNA testing, the sheriff's office stated in a news release. The sheriff's office noted the university is linked to national databases for missing and unidentified persons.

Authorities searched the 100-acre field, just east of Highway 395, after a local farmer discovered the bones while cleaning up after a fire. The field was a site of several accidental spot fires started by a pickup truck traveling through in July.

Sheriff Doug Barger said the bones will be referenced with all area missing persons cases.

The area was previously searched for two missing children — 5-year-old Sofia Juarez of Kennewick vanished in February 2003 after being given $1 by her mother to buy candy at a neighborhood convenience store, and 11-year-old Cody Haynes, who disappeared from his home in Kittitas in September 2004.

The sheriff's office have DNA samples from both children. It was not known when the sheriff's office would have results of DNA testing on the bones, but the sheriff's office said they would hold a press conference when those results are known.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report