Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A partial human skull found by kayakers in the Cuyahoga River at Cuyahoga Valley National Park is still unidentified more than two months after it was discovered.
For people who hike, kayak, and spend time in the park, the discovery is unsettling.
"It's scary," said Adam VanBuskirk, who hikes in the park frequently. "You know, I will say I obviously don't carry a weapon or anything like that, and you do think about that sometimes, especially if you're here, walking by yourself. You just never know, right? If you're on a trail and there's no one around, things can happen."
The skull was found June 19 near a beach and picnic area just south of downtown Peninsula, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.
The kayakers retrieved the skull and took it to a park ranger station. Rangers returned to the area and searched for additional human remains but found nothing else, according to Gary Guenther, chief investigator for the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.
The skull was then sent to Mercyhurst University for forensic anthropological analysis. The testing determined the skull belonged to an adult and had been in the water for at least two years — likely more than five years, Guenther said.
That finding has left visitors with questions about who the person was, and how their remains ended up in the river.
"That just makes me sad, and then it just makes me curious," Julie Grassley said. "Like, did they drown? Were they, like, hiking and they fell in? I mean, I don't know. How does that even happen?"
Hunter Bertram reports: wkyc.com/article/news/local/summit-county/human-skull-found-cuyahoga-river-remains-unidentified/95-663fcc65-c0ac-4e78-af01-4d73d1bcc19c
A partial human skull found by kayakers in the Cuyahoga River at Cuyahoga Valley National Park is still unidentified more than two months after it was discovered.
For people who hike, kayak, and spend time in the park, the discovery is unsettling.
"It's scary," said Adam VanBuskirk, who hikes in the park frequently. "You know, I will say I obviously don't carry a weapon or anything like that, and you do think about that sometimes, especially if you're here, walking by yourself. You just never know, right? If you're on a trail and there's no one around, things can happen."
The skull was found June 19 near a beach and picnic area just south of downtown Peninsula, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.
The kayakers retrieved the skull and took it to a park ranger station. Rangers returned to the area and searched for additional human remains but found nothing else, according to Gary Guenther, chief investigator for the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.
The skull was then sent to Mercyhurst University for forensic anthropological analysis. The testing determined the skull belonged to an adult and had been in the water for at least two years — likely more than five years, Guenther said.
That finding has left visitors with questions about who the person was, and how their remains ended up in the river.
"That just makes me sad, and then it just makes me curious," Julie Grassley said. "Like, did they drown? Were they, like, hiking and they fell in? I mean, I don't know. How does that even happen?"
Hunter Bertram reports: wkyc.com/article/news/local/summit-county/human-skull-found-cuyahoga-river-remains-unidentified/95-663fcc65-c0ac-4e78-af01-4d73d1bcc19c
