A man allegedly flung human bones from a car, leading cops to discover as many as 20 skulls that have been linked to the cold case of a woman missing five years ago.
The grisly finding was made when a resident of Jal, New Mexico, told cops he had a ‘an unsettling encounter’ with a Cecil Villanueva, a man he offered a ride to.
Villanueva was ‘carrying two bags, made alarming statements and discarded objects from the vehicle, some of which appeared to be human bones’, stated the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook on Tuesday.
Authorities recovered the fragments from near a convenience store and close to where Villanueva was, and a pathologist determined that they belonged to humans.
Villanueva was staying at a home on South 4th Street where human remains were rumored to have been found.
On November 6, detectives executed a search warrant and found more bone pieces including parts of a skull and a jawbone.
Three days later, in collaboration with a forensic anthropologist, investigators uncovered 10 to 20 human skulls during a thorough search of the property.
The pieces were sent to the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque for examination and possible identification.
Some of the fragments are believed to possibly belong to Angela McManes, who vanished in 2019 and was last seen near the property, according to authorities.
‘Authorities are working diligently to determine the connection between the remains and McManes, as well as other possible victims,’ stated the sheriff’s office.
It was not clear if Villanueva has been arrested.
An investigation into the matter is ongoing and anyone with information is urged to contact the sheriff’s office.
The human skulls and bones were found a month after a human head and hands found in a backyard freezer in Grand Junction, Colorado, were identified as belonging to Amanda Leariel Overstreet, who was about 16 years old when she disappeared in April 2005.
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