Skull found by boy in Pennsylvania identified as missing wanted man

AMITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (TCD) -- Investigators recently identified a skull found in 2022 as a man wanted on suspicion of the 2004 attempted murder of his wife.

According to a news release from the Berks County District Attorney’s Office, on Saturday, April 30, 2022, a boy located a human skull in a pond near his home in the area of Pine Lane. The minor was 13 years old at the time, WPVI-TV reports.

Investigators further searched the pond two separate times but failed to find additional skeletal remains.

Amity Township Police and district attorney’s office detectives suspected the skull was that of Roger Hart of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Hart was reportedly charged with the attempted murder of his wife in their home in April 2004. According to the district attorney’s office, he fled the scene and hadn’t been seen since. He remained a wanted man.

Shortly after the alleged attack on his wife, investigators located Hart’s unoccupied vehicle near the area of Pine Lane with his car keys and wallet in the front seat. A neighbor reportedly told officials they saw someone matching Hart’s description get out of his car and enter a wooded area nearby.

Investigators sent the skull to Mercyhurst University, and they determined the skull belonged to a male and had been "exposed to the elements for a period greater than 10 years."

On Feb. 1, the district attorney’s office announced that further DNA analysis by the Pennsylvania State Police Forensic Laboratory and the FBI Laboratory Division, Quantico, Virginia, concluded that the skull was Hart’s. However, investigators said they could not determine a cause of death due to the condition of the skull.

MORE:

• Update on Recovered Human Skull from April 30, 2022 - Berks County District Attorney's Office 
• Skull found in Berks County pond is that of man who attempted to kill wife in 2004 - WPVI