MYSTERIOUS

Hikers Find Skeleton Near California’s Second-Highest Peak

The skeleton was found with a fractured skull, along a pair of leather shoes and a belt.

Hikers have discovered an entire human skeleton in a boulder field near the peak of Mt. Williamson, California’s second highest peak. Tyler Hofer and his climbing partner found what looked like a bone sticking out from under a rock on Oct. 7, which turned out to be a fractured skull, along with a full skeleton, a pair of leather shoes, and a belt, the AP reports. “The average person who was hiking to Williamson wouldn’t have gone the route we went because we were a little bit lost, a little bit off course,” Hofer told the AP. “So it made sense that nobody would have stumbled across the body.” The Inyo County Sheriff’s Department retrieved the remains Wednesday to begin investigating what happened to the skeleton and determine its identity. Spokeswoman Carma Roper told the AP there was no evidence of foul play. The sheriff’s office plans to use DNA to try to identify the remains, which investigators believe could have been there for decades due to the level of decomposition.