The bones are old; no longer a police matter

The bones uncovered Tuesday afternoon on a construction site in downtown Coeur d’Alene have been determined to be from 50 to 200 years old.

The Coeur d’Alene Police Department had the skeletal remains tested by a private lab in Seattle that made the age determination.

“This is no longer a criminal investigation nor a police matter,” wrote Officer Mario Rios, in a news release.

Rios said the police department has contacted the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the State Historic Preservation Office.

“The remains are more likely archeological than current,” Rios told The Press. “We have no unsolved cases dating that far back.”

He said, if further testing can be done on the bones, it would be up to the Tribe or the Preservation Office to decide whether to do so.

The site is no longer a crime scene and all road closures have been lifted.