Coroner: Skeletal remains found in Pennsylvania house, ‘highly suspicious’

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — A death investigation is underway after Johnstown Police were dispatched for a welfare check, which led to the discovery of skeletal remains.

Police were called to a home on the 100 block of Adams Street shortly after midnight on Saturday, June 29. When they arrived, police found flies on the inside of a window and reported smelling a foul odor coming from inside the home.

Once inside, police found a body stuffed into a crawl space on the third floor. The body had been wrapped in a tarp and was “very well hidden” in the rafters of a bedroom, according to Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees.

Officials are now working to determine if the remains belong to a man who went missing from the residence in December 2023. There is an examination scheduled for Tuesday, July 2, however, Lees said if the body is not positively identified DNA imaging may needed to be used on the victim.

It was noted that Johnstown Police have searched the house numerous time prior to the discovery on Saturday. Lees has ruled the death as “highly suspicious.”

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