DAYTONA BEACH -- Two workers clearing a wooded area made a macabre discovery Tuesday among the vines and fallen trees from storms past.Michael Chapman and his partner Donovan Keim sawed away at a large tree that had fallen in the woods near Clyde Morris Boulevard and Dunn Avenue. Pulling away some brush, Keim glimpsed the teeth of a human skull lying upside down in the dirt. He jumped back and said a few words that cannot be repeated in the paper.
"It was bleached white," he said. "And you could see the little lines in the skull."
The past two days the pair had found shopping carts, a sofa, and tarps as they cleared away the area overrun with vegetation that often provided a home for transients.
Detectives and the Volusia County medical examiner were called in, and they would later uncover the rest of the remains of an unidentified man who police say was sleeping in a tent in the woods when a tree fell and crushed him. Wearing blue gloves, the detectives collected clothing as well as a wallet found near the bones.
"The wallet had a Florida identification," said Lt. Gorgi Colon, head of the criminal investigations division.
But investigators are not releasing the name on the identification until investigators determine whether the identification indeed belongs to the man and his family is notified.
Forensic experts plan to examine the bones to determine when the man died and why he died. The bones lay unnoticed at least six months, Colon said. With Ernesto bearing down on Daytona Beach, he called the death of the man, who appeared to be a transient, tragic.
"Anytime you have a situation like a tropical storm hit," he said, "you hope they know to find safe shelter through the state or county."
seth.robbins@news-jrnl.com
