Re: Skull found Friday near warm springs

Hi all. I was at the springs with Wizard and Jobe and MANY others on Saturday for the big naturist day. I was sitting on the beach near Jobe and chatting about how I had heard that a week ago, a hiker had found another bone, seemed like a leg bone, along the creek just upstream from the springs. I didn't know more about it - But while we were talking about it, suddenly this guy comes over and he has the bone in his hands. Again! It sure looked like a thigh bone or leg bone of a human. We advised him to call authorities - leave the bone in a marked place it could be found if he wasn't going to bring it to them directly.

I found out later this past weekend after leaving the springs that someone I know had found the bone a week earlier. He left it and did call the authorities - SBSO told him they had been able to ID the skull or match it to a missing person, but they didn't tell him if they were going to go retrieve the new bone found. Clearly it was still at the springs area a week later. But I did just receive a note from a relative of Ranger Burns - and this is what he tells me:

"Hello Hot spring friend, I just wanted to let you know that the skull that was recovered from the hot springs area recently matched the remains of a missing hiker from '98. They did a bone search 20 years ago and had found some but not all of the remains and the SBSO was able to link them together."

So this is Ronnie Bates, no? Was there another case in and around Deep Creek at that time? It is before my time in the area.