An investigation into bones found at Blue Lake Regional Park found no evidence of criminal intent, the Multnomah County District Attorney's office said Thursday, and charges won't be filed against a Metro employee who was the focus of a police investigation into the discovery.
A statement from the district attorney's office said there was no evidence of criminal intent on the part of the employee. An administrative investigation is ongoing by the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board.
Human bones were found twice this year in a dirt pile at Blue Lake Regional Park, near the Columbia River in Fairview. It's unclear how the bones got to Blue Lake; the report from the district attorney's office cited uncorroborated reports from some individuals, who said skeletal remains are frequently discovered while excavating new graves.
"In the absence of additional evidence, however, these assertions cannot be proven, as they are largely speculative and uncorroborated by the evidence provided," the report said.
Metro's 14 pioneer cemeteries were inherited from Multnomah County as part of a 1995 transfer of facilities. Records of burials at the cemeteries are sometimes sparse, and Metro said earlier this year that bones can shift over time as new graves are dug in wet soil.
"The explanation that some skeletal remains may have been accidentally unearthed due to a 'cave in' of an adjacent unmarked grave during the process of mechanically creating a new gravesite cannot be disproved in this case," the district attorney's statement said. "The further explanation that such skeletal remains may remain undetected in the backfill and thereby unintentionally transported to the dump site also cannot be disproven."
The report said a Metro employee cooperated with the investigation. "There is no evidence, however, that (the employee) has acted for personal gain or with any other criminal intent," the report said. (Metro News does not name suspects for crimes unless they are charged.)
The district attorney's statement said the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board held off on its investigation until the criminal investigation was complete. The statement said the board will now review the case.