The recent discovery of a human skull in Carbon County has reopened a mystery for a woman who wonders if the find could be linked to her aunt, who has been missing for 107 years.
A rock hunter discovered the skull Sunday inside a cave near Needle Peak in southern Carbon County, touching off an investigation by authorities.
The largely intact skull appears to be 40 to 50 years old or older, possibly dating back as far as the 1800s, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken said.
No other remains or items related to the skull were found in the cave or surrounding area.
The skull has been turned over to the Carbon County Coroner’s Office, which plans to consult with anthropological experts.
The sheriff’s and coroner’s offices did not return phone calls regarding whether the skull is that of a male or female.
Hope For Past Disappearance
Sherri L. Boatman, 70, of Mills said the discovery of the skull gives her hope that the disappearance of her aunt Grace Braig Alameda may be solved.
“When my son showed me the newspaper article about it (the skull), I got really excited,” Boatman said in a phone interview Wednesday.
Around May 14, 1918, Grace Alameda, who was 16 at the time, eloped from her family’s ranch near Rawlins with John Alameda, a 39-year-old sheepherder from Wamsutter who was “tall, dark and handsome,” said Boatman, who has investigated her aunt’s disappearance through family interviews and genealogical records.
Grace Alameda likely boarded a train in Rawlins with John Alameda en route to Ogden, Utah, where he had relatives, Boatman said. A marriage license indicates they were married in Ogden, and that Grace Alameda lied about her age, claiming she was 18.
After that, Grace Alameda reportedly ran away and was never seen again.
John Alameda, who returned to the Rawlins area and worked on a ranch in 1919 before also disappearing 1920, told the Carbon County sheriff his marriage to Grace Alameda only lasted three days and that she abruptly left him, Boatman said.
A 1920 census report for Carbon County indicated John Alameda was widowed, which Boatman calls a big red flag.
“How would he know she died, according to what he told the sheriff about her disappearance?” Boatman asked.
Grace Alameda’s family, with the help of the sheriff, launched a search that found her horse in a Rawlins stable and a button from her coat lying nearby, leading them to believe there may have been a struggle.
“To lose a button there has to be a tussle,” said Boatman, who speculated that her aunt may have hopped a train or was sold into white slavery, an expansion of the prostitution in the early years of the 20th century.
The disappearance left Grace Alameda’s parents distraught.
“My grandmother was never the same after she disappeared,” Boatman said. “She went into a depression.”
Brief Hope
Over the decades, there has been at least one curious incident indicating Grace Alameda may have simply not wanted to be found, according to Boatman.
In the 1960s, Boatman’s mom took her dad to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Billings, Montana, for a surgical procedure. There, she spotted a nurse wearing a nametag bearing the last name of Braig, who also had reddish brown hair like Grace Alameda.
Meanwhile, Boatman, who has submitted information about her aunt to various missing persons organizations without success, continues to review genealogical records and news articles looking for clues that will solve the disappearance.
“I want to find out what happened to her before I die,” she said. “Some people don’t like to find skeletons in their family closet, but I do.”
In the meantime, Boatman will have to wait a little longer to find out if the skull found in the Carbon County cave is that missing link her family has been searching more than a century for.
Scott Schwebke can be reached at scott@cowboystatedaily.com.
