1930s poet's remains? Utah probe reopened

Any doubt that remains found in the Utah wilderness were those of Everett Ruess, a legendary wanderer of the 1930s, seemed to be erased by a battery of forensic and genetic tests conducted a few months ago.

But Utah's state archaeologist, who was not involved in the discovery, is raising a series of questions about whether the remains are actually those of the poet and artist who disappeared in the Escalante canyons.

Kevin Jones said Ruess' surviving dental records don't match the condition or characteristics of the teeth on a lower jaw bone that was found among the remains. The worn teeth suggest a strictly Native American diet heavy with stone-ground grains. Jones also said the shovel-shaped lower front teeth are characteristic of an American Indian's.

In an interview Thursday, Jones elaborated on his critique, which was posted on his state agency's Web site. His doubts were first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune.

"There are good dental records of Everett Ruess and none of those features appear on the teeth" in a recovered mandible, Jones said Thursday.

Ruess' nephew Brian Ruess, a 44-year-old software salesman in Portland, Ore., said Thursday that his family was reopening a scientific examination because of Jones' questions.

The family enlisted a dental expert to look at the evidence. It is making preparations for another round of DNA tests that initially confirmed the remains were those of the self-styled vagabond, who vanished in 1934. And University of Colorado scientists are assembling their forensic and genetic tests for scrutiny by Jones and others.

Yet Brian Ruess said he is confident that the initial identification is corect, and the scientists told The Associated Press they stand by their work.

Ruess said the old dental records can't be regarded as wholly accurate. Scientists say 13 of Ruess' 32 teeth were never recovered, complicating dental comparisons, while the dental records are "confused and extremely incomplete."

"I'm confident of the identity," said Dave Roberts, who pieced together the story of Ruess' fate in the May/April issue of National Geographic Adventurer. The discovery began with the haunting account of a Navajo elder who, according to a family story, had witnessed the young man's murder by other Indians and waited decades to reveal it.