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A dog retrieves bones of a human

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published September 30, 2006

RUSKIN - The stray dog hung around the man's house, and so the man fed it.

The dog showed its appreciation, as canines do, by fetching treasures and delivering them to the man.

To the dog, the bones it retrieved from a wooded area near 18th Street SE and E College Avenue in Ruskin were surely trophies.

And the man probably didn't think much of the bones - at first.

But one day in January, the bone the dog delivered was more than just a bone, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

It was a human skull.

The man, whom Callaway wouldn't identify Friday, contacted authorities.

Over the past several months, anthropologists have looked at the bones the dog retrieved and others located around the wooded area. They believe the bones are those of a white man, about 5 feet 8 or 5 feet 9 and 40 to 50 years old.

The man's hairline may have receded a bit before he died. His eyes were probably kind of squinty. He may have had a squarish chin with rounded jowls.

A composite drawing released Friday shows investigators' best guess of what the man looked like.

Investigators believe the man died at least six months before the bones were found in early January. And he might have been homeless - a guess based on the fact that the bones were found in a remote, wooded area.

But Callaway said there's no way to be sure.

Anyone with information about the man's possible identity is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at (813) 247-8200.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

[Last modified September 30, 2006, 06:30:48]