Skeletal remains found on St. Helena spark questions about 2017 missing person, police say
A group of hunters stumbled upon skeletal remains on a dirt road on St. Helena Island Wednesday afternoon, sparking a law enforcement investigation and questions about a 2017 missing person case.
Around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday, three hunters and a dog looking for squirrels near Dulamo and Tom Fripp roads came across bones they originally thought belonged to an animal, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report said.
“Upon taking a closer look, [the hunter] realized that it was a human skull and immediately exited the area,” the report said. The hunters notified the owner of the property they were hunting on and called police.
The remains, unidentified as of Thursday, were confirmed to be human, the Sheriff’s Office said. The agency is investigating.
Maj. Bob Bromage with the Sheriff’s Office said they are considering the possibility that the remains are related to the 2017 disappearance of 67-year-old Michael Hatfield in the same area.
Hatfield was last seen on Nov. 26, 2017, at his home on Creek House Road, around a mile away from Dulamo and Tom Fripp roads, a previous report in The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette said. He was reported endangered and missing by his family, who said he had a medical condition.
“A nearby Dulamo Road resident reported hearing someone call for help in the woods around 7 p.m. on [Nov. 26], but didn’t think anything of it until he saw the Sheriff’s Office alert about Hatfield’s disappearance,” the article said.
“Deputies searched the wooded area between the two homes, but found no sign of Hatfield,” it said.
Bromage said it is unknown whether criminal activity was involved in the death of the person whose remains were found.
The remains are in the possession of the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office.
The agency is working with a forensic anthropologist in Charleston, who often works in conjunction with the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, to identify the remains, said Deputy Coroner Debbie Youmans.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 1:54 PM.
