Skeletal remains found south of Weatherford

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November 20, 2012

Skeletal remains found south of Weatherford

Christin Coyne Weatherford Democrat The Weatherford Democrat Tue Nov 20, 2012, 08:12 AM CST

WEATHERFORD — Authorities are working to identify what appear to be human skeletal remains found in a heavily wooded area south of Weatherford last week.

A Willow Park man walking the leased property in the 1100 block of Old Airport Road called the Parker County Sheriff’s Office around 2 p.m. Nov. 13 after he located the remains in a heavily wooded area near the back of the property.

Crime scene investigators with the sheriff’s office, as well as a forensic anthropologist with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, responded to the scene and “collected everything of an evidentiary nature.”

Although the remains appear to be human, the official determination is pending laboratory results performed by the medical examiner’s office, Sheriff Larry Fowler stated in a press release.

That process could take weeks or months, Deputy Danie Huffman said.

Though the Parker County Sheriff’s Office couldn’t say Monday if there was any connection, a man reported missing from his residence in the area earlier this year has not been located.

The family of 58-year-old Warren L. Tankersley Jr. reported the man missing May 5.

Tankersley’s brother told deputies that he had been missing since around March 15.

Tankersley, a metal scrapper, was somewhat of a loner and had been known to go away for a couple days at a time without telling anyone but had never done so for that long, the sheriff’s office reported at the time.

Tankersley’s vehicle and personal items were found at his residence in the 1400 block of Old Airport Road. No foul play was apparent.

The sheriff’s office spent several months looking for him, including a K-9 search in the area. However, as of several months ago, the sheriff’s office did not have any leads, Huffman said.