Mystery skull may be that of Sisters visitor

Efforts to identify a skull found last year by hikers in the Camp Sherman area are now focusing on a black man seen in Sisters during the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

After a Florida crime lab reconstructed the face on the skull, several Sisters area residents contacted the sheriff’s office to report they believe the skull is that of the transient.

Last September, a group of hikers from the Camp Sherman area found the skull in a ravine in the woods near Camp Sherman. They reported their finding to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office who removed the skull and other bones. The materials were shipped to the Oregon State Police crime lab for forensic investigation.

There reportedly was no DNA remaining in the skull, but studies there revealed that based on its structure the skull was thought to that of an older black man. The other bones were believed to be of animals.

With no information on a missing black man in the area, the sheriff’s office next sent the skull to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office in Sanford, Florida. A specialist there reconstructed the face in clay based on bone structure. A photo of the reconstructed face was published in local newspapers and has led to possible identification of the transient.

However, even with the tentative identification, the mystery continues. No one in Sisters ever knew the name of the man during the two or three years he was in the area. Local residents do recall the tall man walking the streets wearing several layers of clothing and a plastic outer layer in both warm and cold weather. He kept to himself and seldom talked to anyone.

Bob Grooney, owner of The Gallimaufry, recalls the man being in Sisters.

“He did look a little menacing, being the only black man in town and a large individual with a stocking cap, several layers of clothing and his legs wrapped in duct tape,” Grooney remembers. “In fact, we sometimes referred to him as ‘the duct tape man’.”

Several times, the man came into Grooney’s store, laid down dollar bills and said “quarters.”

Grooney would change the bill for quarters. Grooney also recalls that during the very cold weather, the man would sometimes chip away at ice on the sidewalk or shovel snow without being asked to do so.

“I told him one time that I appreciated him doing that and then I would leave three or four dollars in quarters in a little notch in the building near the front door to thank him,” Grooney said.

He also remembers hearing about a Sisters businessman taking some garbage out to a dumpster early one morning only to be surprised by this individual coming out of the dumpster where he had slept all night.

“I don’t see any resemblance of the individual in the reconstructed face,” Grooney said. “Personally, I think they may be looking at the wrong person.”

The man eventually was gone from Sisters.

Later, several people remember seeing the individual walking in Bend.

Dorene Fisher recalls seeing him both in Sisters and walking the McKenzie Highway between town and Crossroads.

“Several times, I would see him come out of the woods from where the west end of the high school parking lot is now located,” she recalls. “Once during a dark winter morning, he suddenly came out of the woods about 4 a.m., startling my husband and I as we were leaving for the valley.”

Later, they checked the area for a campsite because of their concern for an unattended campfire. They found a primitive lean-to close to where the SOAR building is now located that appeared to be where he was staying.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Scott Farrell at 541-475-6520.