Police ID bones found in chimney

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 20, 2001

Police have identified human remains found Friday afternoon in a chimney on the second floor of the Riverboat Gift Shop Building in Natchez as those of a Concordia Parish resident. Natchez Police Chief Willie Huff said the victim’s family agrees the remains are those of Calvin Wilson, 280&160;Green Acres Road, who was 27 at the time of his disappearance in the mid-1980s.

&uot;Some members of his family have examined the personal effects that we recovered and are of the opinion that those personal effects are his,&uot; Huff said.

The family had reported Wilson missing in 1985 to the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office, Huff said.

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Local mason Duncan Morgan was working on the chimney Friday when he found human foot and leg bones in socks and cowboy boots.

Police later chiseled through the chimney from the inside and found the rest of a skeleton, including a shirt, a pair of blue jeans, jewelry and a wallet.

&uot;It’s just horrible knowing he’s been in that chimney for 15 years – right there,&uot;&160;said Karen Wilson, Calvin’s sister.

To make matters worse, officials found a body behind International Paper’s Natchez mill in February 1987 that had also been identified as Wilson’s body, she said.

&uot;There’s just been a lot of tears shed,&uot; Wilson said about Friday’s discovery. &uot;It’s kind of closure, but it’s upsetting closure. It’s a shock. We were already believing that the other body was his.&uot;

Wilson said her brother was the kind of person who would disappear for a month or so at a time but never for as long a period as he did during the 1980s.

Huff said he does not think foul play was involved in the death, so he thinks Wilson might have been trying to break into enter the store when he got stuck in the chimney.

&uot;I don’t see any other reason for him to be there,&uot; but the investigation is continuing, Huff said.

Police think Wilson slid about 15 feet down the chimney when he got stuck because the chimney was narrower in that location.

&uot;It was impossible for him to get back up,&uot; Huff said. His body was located about 10 feet above the chimney’s damper, Huff said.

To further confirm the identity of the bones, officials plan to send the remains to the Mississippi Crime Lab along with dental records for further analysis.