The state medical examiner’s office has identified skeletal remains found in northeastern Oklahoma as that of a 22-year-old Kansas man.
The body is that of Joshua Sousa of Treece, Kan., which is just across the Oklahoma state line from the former towns of Picher and Cardin. Medical examiner’s spokeswoman Amy Elliott told the Miami News Record reports that the cause and manner of death have not been determined.
The body was found near the former town of Cardin. Cardin, Picher and Treece were all located in the Tar Creek area that was contaminated with lead pollution blamed on decades of zinc mining.
A federally funded buyout of residents led to the abandonment of the towns.