OKLAHOMA CITY -- Although they started with very little to go on, the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department said Thursday that they might have their best tool yet in an investigation into the cause of a mysterious death.

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Sheriff Hopes Skull Holds Key To Cold Case

Sheriff John Whetsel said investigators need the public's help in identifying the face of a man who is depicted in a new three-dimensional reconstruction that is based on an unidentified skull. The skull was found in 1998 near Triple X Road and Southeast Fifth Street in Oklahoma City.

Although the case has been cold for a number of years, Whetsel said he believes that someone has a valuable clue that could lead to a cause of death. He said his department has made notable progress since a hunter found the skull, a bone fragment believed to be part of a leg bone and clothing nearly seven years ago.

"It was one of those cases where they went as far as they could go at the time," Whetsel said. "There was very little information. This is basically all they had," Whetsel said.

The skull was recently used to render a face, thanks to the work of a police artist. Whetsel said authorities believe the face belongs to the skull -- but it doesn't match any report that the county has on file.

"The person may have been from here in the state," Whetsel said. "A report may have been filed and just put back someplace and never entered (the national database). It may have been that no one ever reported the person missing."

A T-shirt found along with the skull and bone fragment is a Cheyenne-Arapaho ceremonial shirt that commemorates a tribal summer festival held in 1991 near Concho. A coat, jeans and a pair of size 9 hiking boots were also found near the sparse remains.

Whetsel said the only physical clue they have from the corpse is that the skull was missing three teeth. However, he said that doesn't appear to explain anything about how the man died.

"There is a mystery because we have the majority body gone, and the part of body we do have has no signs (of trauma)," he said. "The person could have died of a heart attack or could have died from a gunshot wound to the torso."

Sheriff's officials said Wednesday that a forensic anthropologist has determined the skull to be that of an American Indian male between the ages of 30 and 55. The anthropologist's report estimated the remains to be between three and five years old.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department.