Staff Writer

Law officers are asking for the public's help in tracking down the identity of skeletal remains found in White Oak.

The bones were discovered by rabbit hunters near the Cumberland County line in February.

Detectives, rescue personnel, the coroner and a forensic anthropologist from UNCW spent most of a weekend scouring an area off River Road near White Oak, gathering the scattered remains and searching for more information about the man.

Chief Deputy Phillip Little of the Bladen County Sheriff's Department said the remains were sent to Chapel Hill for further examination.

A cause of death has not been determined.

"All we know for sure," Little said, "is that he was a Hispanic male."

With no directly related missing persons reports, no identification, and no other clues, all efforts to identify "Juan Doe" have yielded no information.

Medical examiners at UNC Hospitals could find no conclusive proof of the cause of death, Little said.

The death is thought to have happened at least six months ago, and possibly as long as eighteen months prior to the hunter's grisly discovery.

The man was of medium to short height, and wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket. No identification was found among the remains.

Officials at the time said the he could have come from a neighboring county.

Posters and flyers have been posted in the White Oak, Tar Heel and Dublin area seeking information about the man, but Little said gathering information has not been easy.

"There are quite a few Hispanics that turn up missing," he said, "and most do not involve foul play."

Police are asking that anyone with information about a missing Hispanic male who disappeared in the last year to call the sheriff's department at (910) 862-6960.

--30-