Skull displayed on mantelpiece belongs to missing Tennessee man

Police have made a gruesome discovery after being tipped off about a human skull being displayed on a mantelpiece.The skull, which was being displayed with sunglasses, has been identified as a missing man from Morgan County in Tennessee, according to District Attorney-General Russell Johnson. The skull was retrieved by the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) after they received a tip about it.
A DNA test was run by the Knox County Regional Forensics Center and the University of Tennessee Department of Anthropology, who discovered it belonged to Junior Willie McCann.
Mr McCann had been missing since September 2012.
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District Attorney Johnson said a search for additional remains had “yielded no results”.
The man who had the skull in his home said he found it in March of 2019 in the town of Gobey, in Morgan County.
“Someone subsequently placed the skull on a fireplace mantle where a pair of sunglasses were added,” Mr Johnson said. He said it stayed in the home until the local Sheriff’s were alerted to its existence.
“An extensive search was made – at the time of the skull being taken ‘into custody’ by the MCSO, TDOC and others – of the area where the skull had been found (according to the man who supposedly found it),” he said.
“Speculation and rumour has been that Junior Willie McCann was possibly killed by a family member who is now deceased as well.”
The Morgan County Sheriff Wayne Potter has urged anyone with information about the case to come forward.