Remains found near Placer County campsite 32 years ago identified

Human remains found near a Placer County campsite in 1994 were identified as those of a man last known to be in California in 1963, officials said Thursday.

A partial skull was found by loggers near a campsite at Putt Lake on July 7, 1994. Detectives estimated that the remains had been there for up to a year.

Several items were collected and stored as evidence, but due to the limited evidence, a cause of death was never determined.

More than 32 years after the human remains were found, officials identified the remains as George Krusely, who was last known to be in California in 1963. It remains unclear how long he had been dead when the remains were located.

Lake Putt is located in the Sierra Nevada, just off Interstate 80 near Nyack Road. 

Officials said Krusely, born in 1929, came from Croatian and Yugoslavian ancestry, making the case very challenging due to the low representation in accessible DNA databases. 

The Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center's research helped the Placer County Cold Case Investigations team identify the remains.