130 Collect Bones, Bits of Fabric Near Laura Bradbury Campsite

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL MONUMENT — The top of a child’s skull, shaped like a small bowl with a curiously smooth edge, was among several pounds of bone and clothing fragments that will be analyzed for clues, after a two-day search for what might be the remains of 3-year-old Laura Bradbury of Huntington Beach.

The smoothness of the top of the skull perplexed sheriff’s investigators, who postulated Tuesday that the child’s remains had been gnawed by coyotes.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Capt. Gene E. Bowlin would not say if the skull appeared to have been cut or sawed, but the edge was “a clean break, generally speaking,” unlike the other bone fragments that had jagged edges.

Sheriff’s investigators said the partial skull, discovered Saturday by hikers, was among human and animal bone fragments, some of them contained in coyote droppings, collected in 20 bags.

Deputy Darryl Heller, who led a band of 130 in the search, said the largest piece of fabric found in the search, “was smaller than the tip of a cigarette.”

Because Laura Bradbury had no dental records, bone fractures or any other identifiable marks, Heller said that “the clothing may be the key.”

It was a grim return to the Indian Cove section of Joshua Tree for Heller. He was among hundreds who searched for Laura Bradbury, after she followed her brother to an outdoor toilet on Oct. 18, 1984, and was never seen again.

The top of the skull and other remains were found about one mile northwest of the Bradburys’ campsite and about two miles south of California 62.

“For Mike Bradbury (Laura’s father) this could set his mind at ease,” Heller said, “and ease the minds of the earlier searchers.”

Mike Bradbury had remained at the campsite for more than three weeks. Later he and his wife, Patty, devoted all of their time to trying to find their daughter.

Became a Symbol

Laura’s disappearance coincided with rising recognition of the problem of missing children, and she became a symbol for a movement that has swept the nation.

Jim Schalow, the Bradburys’ private investigator, who has been in communication with them since the discovery of the bones, said he believes the case “is absolutely not over.”

Investigators “have nothing specifically to relate it (the remains) to the Bradbury matter, except for proximity,” Schalow said.

Judy Suchey, a California State University, Fullerton, anthropologist, will examine the bone fragments to determine the sex, age and race of the child.

Although Suchey refused to comment Tuesday, Bowlin said her preliminary report generally agreed with that of San Bernardino County pathologist Irving Root. Root said Monday that the skull came from a child between the ages of 2 and 5 who had been dead not more than two years. The top of the skull, which was bleached white, had been exposed to light for about six months.

Time Estimated

Bowlin said, however, that Suchey estimated the top of the skull had been exposed for only three to four months.

Sheriff’s deputies said it is not unusual for hikers to turn up the dismembered remains of humans in Morongo Valley, often the death site of stranded mountaineers and a dumping ground for bodies from murders committed elsewhere.

“I’ve had people find hands, feet, fingers, wrap ‘em up and bring ‘em in here,” Sgt. Jim Stalnakel said.