New technology identifies human skull found by dog in 35-year-old Nashville cold case

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - More than 35 years after their discovery, authorities were able to identify human remains in a Nashville cold case.

In January of 1991, a dog returned to a home on Barksdale Lane with a human skull in his mouth, per the Metro Nashville Police Department

No other remains were discovered, and for more than three decades, that skull went unidentified — until Tuesday.

MNPD announced that the remains belong to Philip Daniel Sydnor, who was “known to be transient.” He would have been 40 in 1991.

“The cause and manner of death are undetermined,” police said in a Tuesday press release.

The news comes three years after the skull was sent to the “Othram lab for genome sequencing and forensic genetic genealogy,” per MNPD. Othram partners with law enforcement agencies to “break through previously impenetrable forensic DNA barriers and close previously unsolvable cases.”

“Othram technology enables the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and the Australian Federal Police’s (AFP) National DNA Program to identify human remains and resolve missing persons cases,” the Othram website says.

Police are still looking for more information in the case.

“Anyone with information regarding Sydnor, whose date of birth was June 21, 1950, is asked to call Cold Case Unit Detective Andrew Davis at 615-862-7720,” MNPD said.