A quiet day of yard work took a grim turn for landowners on the far West Side of San Antonio when, while cutting grass on their family-owned property, they came across a human skull in a ditch—a find that would later reveal the skeletal remains of Richard Reyna, 60, as reported by KSAT and confirmed by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Javier Salazar, was quickly alerted to the discovery which was made off U.S. Highway 90 at Pue Road, Salazar noted that while the identity of the remains was initially unknown, the situation was handled promptly, a body along with work-type clothes were found, "It’s obvious this body has been here for a while. Right now we’re assuming it’s a male body," Salazar told Express News.
Bleaching of the bones suggested prolonged exposure to the sun, indicating that Reyna's remains may have been at the site for several years, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office believes it could be a couple of years due to the state of the remains. The landowners, whose family have kept the land since the 1850s, reportedly did not notice the remains when they last visited the field for mowing previous year, as per KSAT.
Investigators are looking at missing persons records and the cause and manner of Reyna's death are still being explored, Sheriff Salazar mentioned the challenge at hand: “It’s too soon to tell if there’s foul play or a homeless person that was living out here died of natural causes,” he said, “(There was) no outward signs of injury," Salazar described during the never-ending quest to piece together the fragments of untold stories, unsung lives, and untimely passings that come under the scrutiny of law and justice in hopes of restoration and closure, as reported by Express News. Anyone with information concerning Reyna's death is urged to contact Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at 210-335-6000.
