JENNIFER BARZILOSKI - 18 yo (2001) - Wilkes-Barre PA

Wilkes-Barre PA ---- A human skull found in a northeastern Pennsylvania forest has been
identified as that of a woman missing since June 2001.

State police say 18-year-old Jennifer Barziloski of Lake Township was
last seen outside a bar in Edwardsville.



Police said Monday the skull was found April 2 in a wooded area of
Hunlock Township, just west of Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County. Dental
records were used to identify the skull as that of Barziloski.

The remains have been sent to the University of North Texas Center for
Human Identification for DNA analysis.

The human remains discovered April 2 in Hunlock Township have been
linked to a Sweet Valley woman who went missing in June 2001, state
police at Wyoming said Monday.Investigators say the remains are
that of Jennifer Barziloski, 18, one of two women from the same circle
of friends in Sweet Valley who were missing for years.The
identification, through dental records, brings some closure to one
family while continuing the questions for loved ones of Phylicia Thomas,
who has been missing since 2004 at the age of 22.Barziloski's
mother declined comment when a reporter visited her Pittston home on
Monday after police confirmed the remains were Barziloski. A flyer
seeking the public's help finding Barziloski hangs in the window of the
residence."Phylicia always told me she was going to find Jen.
This is what she wanted," Thomas' mother Pauline Bailey said minutes
after hearing the news Monday. "I'm glad for the family. They are
finally going to get some closure."State police said Barziloski's
remains were sent to the University of North Texas, Center for Human
Identification for further DNA testing.Meanwhile, authorities
continue to investigate Barziloski's disappearance, which police said
has long been treated as a homicide probe.Two people who were
driving their all-terrain vehicles off Roaring Brook Road on April 2
spotted a human skull and other bones in a dumping ground at the bottom
of an embankment. State police collected the remains. A forensic
anthropologist determined only the skull was human and the rest of the
bones were animal remains. The families of Barziloski and Thomas were
then asked to provide dental records. Barziloski and Thomas both
lived in Lake Township at the time they disappeared. Both knew and were
associated with the man police say was the primary person of interest
in their disappearance, Steve Martin, who committed suicide in prison
while jailed on unrelated charges. Martin, whose Ross Township home was
near where Barziloski's remains were found, had children with
Barziloski's sister and was best friends with Thomas' boyfriend.Martin
is the last known person to have contact with both women. He denied any
involvement in the disappearances up until his death.Thomas'
family vows to continue searching for her and may search areas for a
second time. Barziloski's remains were located in a spot they already
searched, they said.Anyone with information on either
disappearance is asked to call state police at Wyoming at 697-2000.

Crystal Isbel believed she'd have closure if her sister's remains
were found, allowing the family to know for sure she was dead.
Then, all investigators were able to locate on April 2 was Jennifer
Barziloski's skull.
"I thought it would be good, but it turned out to be worse. We only
have a part of her," Isbel said Tuesday, a day after authorities
announced the skull matched Barziloski. "Having the rest of her would
make it easier."
The positive identification came nearly nine years after Barziloski,
then 18, disappeared from near her Lake Township home. Her skull was
discovered amid animal remains in a dumping ground off Roaring Brook
Drive in Hunlock Township.
"I always wondered if she was cold, if she was fed, if she was alive,
what happened to her," Isbel said.
Isbel wouldn't share her theories on what happened to her younger
sister, besides saying, "(Police) said she was last seen with him."
She was referring to Steve Martin, of Ross Township, the last person
known to have contact with Barziloski and who police identified as the
primary person of interest in her disappearance. Martin, who lived
within several miles of where Barziloski's skull was found, committed
suicide in prison in 2005 while serving a sentence for vehicular
homicide.
Isbel, 32, is the oldest of five siblings, all girls. Barziloski was
the middle child. Isbel said she and her husband Cory were living in
Florida when Barziloski disappeared. Barziloski had lived with them for a
year and disappeared on June 23, 2001, just weeks after returning home.
For nearly nine years, little progress was made in finding out what
happened. Then, on April 2, two young boys riding all-terrain vehicles
spotted the remains. Family thought it could be Barziloski, or possibly
another missing woman from Lake Township, Phylicia Thomas, who
disappeared in February 2004.
"It has been real hard. You find something and have to wait. I was
going crazy wondering if it was her, if it was Phylicia," Isbel said.
Dental records positively identified the skull as that of Barziloski.
Barziloski's remains have been shipped to University of North Texas,
Center for Human Identification for further DNA testing. The family must
wait at least six months to get the remains, Isbel said.
Meanwhile, Isbel and other family members are organizing a memorial
service to be held on April 24 at 2 p.m. at the Emmanuel Assembly of God
Church, Church Road in Harveys Lake. The service will feature pictures
of Barziloski and an assortment of yellow roses, Barziloski's favorite
flower, Isbel said.
"We want her friends to be able to say goodbye to her," Isbel said.
"It feels right after nine years."

http://citizensvoice.com/news/closure-eludes-barziloski-s-family-1.729538#articleComments

trying to find out if this has been ruled a homicide

Grim discovery of bones cause for hope, despair

BY DAVID SINGLETON (STAFF WRITER)

Published: April 14, 2010

The discovery of a female's skeletal remains in a wooded area of Olyphant will stir an odd dichotomy of emotions among the families of hundreds of missing Pennsylvania women, a Pittsburgh woman who runs a Web site dedicated to finding them says.

"It's like you don't want to find her dead, but if she is dead, you do want to find her," Nancy Monahan, who maintains the Pennsylvania Missing Persons site, www.penn sylvaniamissing.com, said Tuesday. "You're torn between hope and despair. Any definite answer, for good or bad, is better than not knowing."

A day after searchers recovered a skull and other remains from the woods off Marshwood Road, about two miles east of the Casey Highway, neither state nor local police released additional information about the investigation.

State police have said the forensic anthropologist who is analyzing the remains identified the victim as a female, and investigators released a photograph of a Michael Kors wristwatch located at the site. The men's watch appeared to be sized for a small wrist, police said. ...

More:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/grim-discovery-of-bones-cause-for-hope-despair-1.729383

pHOTO COURTESY OF PA. STATE POLICE State police released a photo of a wristwatch found near the human skeletal remains in Olyphant. Anyone with information is asked to contact state police in Dunmore at 963-3156.