Boy Scouts found skull in bag in 2002, WI cops say. DNA revelation is baffling

A group of Boy Scouts made a horrifying discovery in 2002, when they opened a bag found on a Wisconsin hiking trail and saw a human skull inside, investigators say.

Twenty-three years later, DNA testing has proven the remains are those of 92-year-old Alyce Catharina Peterson, according to the California-based DNA Doe Project.

This revelation has only deepened the mystery, however, since Peterson was supposed to have been cremated, the project said in an Aug. 14 news release.

“Peterson had died in hospital of natural causes in St. Paul, Minnesota, fifteen months prior to the discovery of her skull in Wisconsin,” the DNA Doe Project wrote in a news release.

“Investigators are currently working to ascertain what happened to Peterson’s body after her death.”

Her skull was found Oct. 21, 2002, by “a group of Boy Scouts walking through the woods” near Houlton, which is about a 25-mile drive east from St. Paul, Minnesota.

The St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office forwarded the case to the DNA Doe Project in 2021, and DNA analysis confirmed the skull belonged to a female of Swedish descent, officials said.

“This unexpected result turned out to be a huge new lead. In particular, a woman living in Stockholm ended up being crucial to solving this case,” according to DNA Doe co-team leader Robin Espensen.

Project researchers built a family tree for the Swedish woman, focused on the relatives who immigrated to the U.S. That eventually led to descendants in Stillwater, Minnesota, just a few miles from where the skull was found.

Peterson had been living in Stillwater at the time of her death in 2001 and was not considered a missing person, officials said.

“This is the first time that I have seen a Doe identified as someone who had a death certificate and who was supposedly cremated,” case manager Eric Hendershott said in the release.

“The fact that Alyce’s skull ended up where it did was a real shock, but I’m glad that the team was able to identify her and reunite her with her family.”