Family has questions after discovering jawbone

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- Police officials suspect that a jawbone found in the

backyard of a home is less than 10 years old, officials said Wednesday.

“We’re still waiting on the anthropologist’s report to confirm a lot

of suspicions,” said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney. There are no

suspects yet, he said.

“We don’t know if this was a result of criminal activity,” Birney

said. He declined to comment further because of the ongoing

investigation.

Evan Chalmers, a history teacher and assistant football coach at

Newport Harbor High School, raked up the bone from the backyard of his

Costa Mesa home when he was clearing the area to lay concrete.

The fragment, Chalmers said, looked like a small adult’s jawbone.

“It had a couple of molars on it,” he said. “And it was broken in two

pieces.”

Chalmers said police and detectives spent some time Sunday and Monday

digging near the area where the fragments were found.

“They were looking for teeth or other remains, but they found

absolutely nothing,” Chalmers said.

Chalmers’ wife, Amy, said she felt “really creepy” about the

discovery. The family has lived in the house for two years and bought the

home from Marvin Waldrop, who has since moved to Big Bear.

“My husband found the bone right outside my 2-year-old daughter’s

bedroom,” she said. “I’d like to know how it got there.”

She said there are several unanswered questions.

“Are there other bones? Was this a burial ground some time?” she

asked.

But more than anything else, the couple said they want an end to the

mystery.

“I told my students in class today, and now they’re hanging with me,”

Chalmers said with a laugh. “I just want to know: What was that bone

doing in my backyard?”