Three Camp Verde teenagers got the shock of a lifetime July 18.
That afternoon, while fishing the north side of Black Bridge, the three made a grisly discovery in the shallow water close to shore: A human skull.
“The kids saw the skull and did the appropriate thing — they didn’t handle it,” Camp Verde Marshal’s Office Cmdr. Jacquelyn MacConnell said.
The three contacted the CVMO. Subsequently, detectives were contacted and the skull was recovered.
“We packaged it appropriately and called the medical examiner’s office,” MacConnell said.
The medical examiner recommended the skull be stored in the medical examiner’s facility until it can be reviewed by a forensic anthropologist.
According to a press release from CVMO Chief Administrative Assistant Darby Martin, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office assisted CVMO in contacting Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
“MCSO responded quickly to the request and assessed the area,” Martin stated. On July 20, at approximately 9:30 a.m., divers began searching approximately 200 yards of the river area for additional remains.
“CVMO is conducting this search as a potential crime scene and not ruling out the possibility these remains may belong to Dwayne Beauty,” Martin stated.
Beauty was the victim of a homicide that occurred three years ago. In June 2013, after a heated exchange in Camp Verde, Mario Chagolla Jr. repeatedly stabbed Beauty and dismembered the corpse.
Though other body parts were found during the resulting investigation, Beauty’s skull has yet to be recovered.
Coincidentally, on the day the three teenagers found the skull Chagolla Jr. was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for killing Beauty.
“We’re thinking it might be linked to the homicide,” MacConnell added, saying that it would be nice to get a lead on an existing crime and not have to investigate a new crime. She said, however, that “it’s not that good to link these things” because the situation is still in development.
According to MacCon-nell, though the skull will be reviewed by a forensic anthropologist — who will be able to determine gender, age and ethnicity, as well as do a DNA comparison for matches in law enforcement databases — the process is anything but quick.
“We’ll wait for the results, but they could take months.”
