PORTER, Wis., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Police said they still don't know if the human remains found in a backyard fire pit are those of missing Wisconsin teenager Aprina Paul.
Though police said they had determined the remains are those of a female, they were waiting to see whether the bone fragments yield enough DNA evidence to make a conclusive identification, the Janesville Gazette reported Sunday.
Police were acting on a tip Paul, 18, died at the house in Porter, Wis. She disappeared from her family's home in neighboring Dane County last week after her family said she responded to a Craigslist posting for "partying."
Neighbors told police the fire had been burning for days -- but it was not an uncommon occurrence for people in the rural area to have multiple-day burns to clear brush ahead of the winter season.
The home's occupant, Nathan C. Middleton, 29, has been taken into custody on a probation violation. Rock County Sheriff Robert Spoden said Middleton is a person of interest in a criminal investigation but what role he may have played in the Paul case was not clear.
Police said they were not close to making a determination about what happened to Paul or the cause of death for the woman burned in the fire pit.
"We're nowhere near making a determination on if this was a natural death, an accidental death or a homicide," Spoden said.
