A skeleton several years old found off the side of Palestine Road Thursday afternoon may be linked to a 10-year-old murder investigation.

Though neither the Adams County Sheriff’s Office or the Coroner’s Office has directly linked the skeleton to a case involving a man who authorities suspect killed his wife and daughter and later killed himself, authorities on the scene around 5 p.m. Thursday were comparing dental records of one of the victims in that case to the skeleton.

Passerby Howard Mitchell Rushing, who lives on Palestine Road, found the skeleton about 10 steps off the road and called 911.

&uot;I don’t know what made me stop,&uot; Rushing said. &uot;I saw a deer skull and a ravine and thought maybe there would be Indian artifacts. Then I saw the skull and I thought it was a toy, but it had a (dental) filling.&uot;

Sheriff Ronny Brown said the skeleton was not buried and was covered only by weeds, loose dirt and trash just beyond the county’s grass cutting line.

&uot;The more weeds we pull back the more bones we find,&uot; Brown said. &uot;There are no clothes and no hair but it has all the teeth.&uot;

Brown said the position of the skeleton made it appear the body had been dumped out on the side of the road.

In the early 1990s murder, the body of the wife was recovered several years later, but the daughter’s body was not found. The first body was found on U.S. 84 only about 2 miles from Thursday’s Palestine Road location.

Rushing said he’d probably driven by the spot on Palestine Road a million times.

&uot;It is bad to think that somebody was right off this road, lost,&uot; Rushing said. &uot;Maybe I could have helped. Maybe finding the bones will give somebody some closure.

&uot;It was God’s time for her to be found,&uot; Rushing said. &uot;I can’t even say what made me stop. I’ll never pass by another place that I see buzzards and don’t stop and see what it is.&uot;

Brown said the sheriff’s office will continue investigating the case and the coroner’s office will handle the remains. He said officials would use the dental records and the state medical lab to positively identify the skeleton.

Coroner James Lee was on the scene working with several sheriff’s deputies to remove the bones. The skeleton was found about 2.5 miles outside the city limits on North Palestine Road.

The early 1990s murder happened within the city limits, and the ACSO will work with the Natchez Police Department on the case, Brown said.