DNA confirms human remains found in 1991 belong to a 4-year-old boy

MENTONE, Calif. — Decades after a skull was found in a rural part of Mentone, California, the person to who the skull belonged has finally been identified due to DNA analysis, officials say.

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The San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Department said that on Oct. 27, 1991, around 3 p.m., a hunter who was quail hunting in Mentone found a human skull that had no teeth. The sheriff’s department was called and took over the investigation.

An area search was conducted for additional human remains but none were recovered. Investigators say they did find a torn plastic trash bag that smelled of decomposition and was found with children’s clothing, the sheriff’s office said.

An autopsy was conducted of the skull and it was determined that it belonged to a child between the ages of 4 and 8 years old, according to KTLA. The remains were not able to be identified.

Decades after the skull was found, evidence was sent over to a DNA sequencing laboratory, the news outlet reported. In Feb. 2023, tests that were conducted revealed that the genetic relatives were alive in Houston, Texas.

The sheriff’s office reached out to the relatives and got consent for their DNA for additional testing.

Eventually, the child’s mother was identified as Patricia Clark, the sheriff’s office said. She was contacted and investigators learned that she had reported her child missing to the San Bernadino Police Department in 1991 but he was never found.

DNA evidence determined that Clark was 100% the child’s mother. He was then identified as Derrick Burton, according to the sheriff’s office.

A cause and manner of death have not been released.