Overview
- The discovery, reported Tuesday by a hiker in the Sangre De Cristo Ranches near Bruce Road, prompted the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office to call in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
- CBI agents met the hiker at the site with sheriff’s deputies and confirmed the skeletal remains were human.
- Colorado State Patrol secured the area overnight before an extensive search with CBI, the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the county coroner, and K-9 teams.
- The coroner has not identified the person, and CBI says the investigation remains active with no further details released.
- Identifying skeletal remains often relies on dental records or DNA and can take days or weeks, which is why state agencies like CBI commonly lead complex cases in remote areas.