Police continue to search after human skull found in Stoney Creek

Hamilton police are still looking for more skeletal remains after forensic testing determined bone found near McNeilly road is a human skull. Melissa Raftis has the story.

Police continued to conduct a grid search of the McNeilly road area between Highway 8 and Ridge Road Thursday looking for more remains.

A forensic anthropologist determined the skull found earlier this week is human but it needs to go through further testing to determine the gender, age and how long it has been there. That’s something that is expected to take days. Acting Staff Sgt. Peter Thom says police were using rappelling ropes during Thursday’s search because of the dangerous terrain on the escarpment. The remains were found not far from an area where Shirley Treadwell is believed to have been buried in 2009 by her niece Melinda Evans.

Evans pleaded guilty to interfering with Treadwell’s remains and cashing her social assistance cheques after she died. While police have not linked these remains to Treadwell, we spoke with Dorothy Treadwell, Shirley’s oldest sister. She says she hopes the remains are Shirley’s so they can bring her home for Christmas, which was her favourite time of year.

Police have not yet said if they’ve found anything else in Thursday’s search.