MAYVILLE, N.Y. (WBEN) – One of the bodies discovered last month by a hiker in the Town of Portland in Chautauqua County has been identified as 50-year-old Marquita Mull, a 50-year-old woman from Buffalo who was reported missing in July.
Another body at the scene still has not been identified, according to Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone.
A hiker reported finding a human skull on the evening September 26. Police began searching the scene where they found an entire body of skeletal remains six inches underground. Officials said that body had been there for decades.
Dental records ruled out the possibility the body was Lori Bova and Corrie Anderson, who have been missing 1997 and 2008, respectively.
Police did not rule out it could be Patricia Laemmerhirt, who has been missing since 1976. Testing on the body in at a police lab in Albany could take weeks. Police are trying to locate dental and medical records for Laemmerhirt.
"We are also entering all information we have into the national database," the sheriff said. "We're hoping something from those databases will lead us to a potential victim."
Some of the testing could take years.
Mull's body was found ten yards from the first body. She was reported missing on July 18 to Buffalo police and was last seen on June 25 in the Broadway-Fillmore area.
"We have been working with Buffalo Police Department since October 1 and discussing with them and sharing information," Quattrone said. "We're going to continue working with the Buffalo Police Department. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Mull family and hope they can get a level of comfort knowing where their loved one is. We're going to continue investigating thoroughly and look for anybody who may be involved in her disappearance and her death."
Police have not yet found any suspects in the case and they are not sure if the two incidents are connected.
"I have no idea," Quattrone said when asked if he believes they're connected. "That's one of those speculations where I don't want to go there yet. We want to chase the facts…The proximity indicates maybe but there's such a timeline in between the two. We're not sure what that would indicate yet."
Police have cleared the scene and do not anticipate going back.
