SLUMGULLION PASS, Colo., Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A team of historians and scientists made a gruesome find in the 130-year-old "Alferd" Packer case of cannibalism near Slumgullion Pass, Colo.
Dumbbell-shaped nuggets, believed to be bone bits, were found buried in soft dirt down a hillside from where the five victims of the crime were buried, the Denver Post reported Monday.
Packer and his fellow prospectors had been traveling from Salt Lake City to an Indian agency south of Gunnison when they became lost and stranded in a winter storm in 1874.
Several months later, Packer was the only survivor and he was charged with killing the five men when parts of their bodies were found.
Packer admitted eating the flesh, but he said he killed only once in self-defense after one man went crazy. Packer said the man killed the others.
David Bailey, curator of the Museum of Western Colorado, organized the team of researchers for the "Al Packer Lost Camp Expedition" last week.
