BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky State Police say human remains found about a year ago in south-central Kentucky were those of a Native American woman who appears to have been scalped.
Detective Chad Winn told The Associated Press that the case is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Winn said forensic examiners found markings on the skull consistent with a scalping.
College students searching an area of Barren County near the Cumberland Parkway for a rare tree stumbled across the remains in August 2011. A search by investigators turned up bones scattered in a culvert over a 100-foot area.
Winn said that forensic examiners determined that the woman was between 20 and 50 years old and had been killed by a shotgun blast between one and 15 years ago.
