How college students helped Durham police solve a cold case and bring a family closure
The remains of a person missing from Durham for two years were recently found after the city’s police received the help of forensics students from Western Carolina University.
In December, six forensic anthropology students from the university in Cullowhee, about four hours from Durham, combed the forest floor of Ellerbee Creek to find clues, along with police and five school faculty members.
The hours-long search ended when professor Kayleigh Best, director of Western Carolina’s forensic program, found the remains.
Ellerbee Creek runs for over 20 miles through north Durham and is a tributary of the Neuse River. The Durham Police Department did not say whose remains were found but said a grieving family will now have closure after years of searching.
“WCU allowing staff and students to conduct these types of searches and investigations greatly assists law enforcement in locating additional remains,” police investigator Donald Hall said in a statement. “I can tell you from personal experience, the Durham Police Department would not have located these remains without the assistance and experience of Western Carolina University.”
The News & Observer has reached out to police for more details on the discovery and two-year search.
A classroom without walls
This is not the first time students from the university’s Forensic Anthropology Program have helped law enforcement.
Students in the program learn the science of anthropology to enter careers involving death investigations, medicine and law enforcement. The program also oversees the Forensic Osteology Research Station, or FOREST, on 5,000 acres where recently deceased human bodies lie on clay-rich soil for observation. The “body farm,” as it’s called, is the second oldest of its kind in the world.
The collaboration with the Durham Police Department was a rare opportunity for undergraduate students to apply those techniques outside the classroom.
“Being able to participate in the search this past December was an incredible, yet humbling, experience,” said Tayler Franklin, a senior double-majoring in forensic science and forensic anthropology. “I have been lucky enough to discover what I feel is my calling in life: to bring families closure and peace of mind in times of death and uncertainty.”
As the scientists return to their labs in Cullowhee, the impact of their work remains in Durham.
“Forensic anthropology is there to help support the community in a lot of different ways,” Best said. “I think this speaks to the power and impact that forensic anthropology can have.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 2:06 PM with the headline "How college students helped Durham police solve a cold case and bring a family closure."