Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Hoping to recover the estimated 10 percent of the bones missing from the remains discovered April 6 near Lake Wawasee, police are bringing in cadaver dogs to search throughout the wooded area and beyond.
The two dogs, from a Lima, Ohio, police agency, will search the area today.
Police recovered the skeleton last week after it was discovered by mushroom hunters in a wooded area off CR 1050N on the east side of Lake Wawasee.
Two days after the discovery, the human remains were identified as Crystal Gayle Homister, 22, of Elkhart. A forensic odontologist in Fort Wayne made the identification through dental records, and officials hope that further testing of the remains will point toward a cause of death.
The body was burned sometime prior to the remains being found and 85 percent to 90 percent were recovered at the scene, Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine said. A bone recovered from the trash can of a Natti Crow Road resident this week was confirmed to be a human bone, Rovenstine said. The resident called police to report that she had the bone after she took it away from her dog.
Police from Elkhart and Kosciusko County are investigating Homister's death as a homicide. No determination has been made as to whether Homister died where her remains were found or if her body was dumped there after she was killed elsewhere.
Homister was last seen Jan. 7 and was reported missing several days later by concerned family members. She reportedly was to testify as a witness in a armed robbery trial sometime after her disappearance.
