Washington State

Human skull discovered by biker near campground may be missing man, Washington cops say

A human skull was found near Sunset Falls Campground March 18 in Skamania County, Washington, deputies said. File photo.
A human skull was found near Sunset Falls Campground March 18 in Skamania County, Washington, deputies said. File photo. David Lang via Unsplash

A human skull was discovered by a mountain biker near a Washington campground, deputies said.

Authorities said they believe it could belong to a missing man.

The mountain biker contacted deputies at about 9:45 p.m. March 18 from near the Sunset Falls Campground, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office said in a March 25 Facebook post.

Because it was already dark, deputies said they went to investigate the area the following day.

They recovered the human skull and found additional human remains in the area, deputies said.

The remains haven’t been identified yet, but deputies said they may belong to 45-year-old John T. Guffey of Baltimore.

Guffey has been missing for a year and was last seen near the same campground, deputies said. There were several search efforts last year, but he never turned up.

His van, however, was also previously found in the same area, deputies said.

“Based on the circumstances and scene evidence, there is no perceived risk to public safety involving the death of this individual,” deputies said.

The investigation is ongoing.

Skamania County is about a 70-mile drive northeast of Portland, Oregon.

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Helena Wegner
McClatchy DC
Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.
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