Skeletal remains found in January on St. Helena Island have been identified, police say
The skeletal remains found by hunters on St. Helena Island in January have been identified as a 67-year-old man missing since 2017, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office alert.
Michael Hatfield, of St. Helena Island, was reported missing in November 2017 and was last seen at his home on Creek House Lane, the alert said. Hatfield told his family that he was going to take a nap after lunch and did not plan on going anywhere when he went missing, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office, DNA analysts from the Sheriff’s Office Forensic Services Laboratory and a forensic anthropologist from the Charleston County Coroner’s Office in conjunction with the Medical University of South Carolina worked to identify the remains, Beaufort County Coroner David Ott said.
Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office responded to Dulamo Road on St. Helena Island at 2:41 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2022, after getting a call about remains being found in a wooded area, according to a Sheriff’s Office report. The callers, who were hunting with their dog, told police they first thought the remains might be an animal.
“Upon taking a closer look, [the hunters] realized that it was a human skull and immediately exited the area,” the report said.
When the remains were found in January, police suspected that they belonged to Hatfield because they were found near his residence, Maj. Bob Bromage with the Sheriff’s Office said.
The cause and manner of Hatfield’s death, and when it occurred, are still undetermined and under investigation by the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office, Ott said.
The Sheriff’s Office is still considering the death suspicious, Bromage said. The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information may call Staff Sgt. Todd Duncan with the Sheriff’s Office at 843-255-3418 or Crime Stoppers of the Lowcountry at 843-554-1111.
