Priest Drops Off Human Skull at Tosa Police Station

By Heather Shannon

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  • A priest brings a skull to police department because he wanted to be buried with it Video by tmj4.com

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WAUWATOSA--A human skull was dropped off at the Wauwatosa Police Department, and it is now a mystery for investigators, who are trying to figure out who the person was.

Wauwatosa Detective Lisa Hudson pulled the human skull out of the burlap wrap it was given to them in.

"The first thing people think of is Jeffrey Dahmer," Hudson said.

But it wasn't a suspected killer who brought the skull in... it was a retired priest.  The 75 year old priest said he stored the skull his locker at the Cousin's Center in St. Francis for years, and only recently re-discovered it while planning his own funeral.  He believes that at his age, he needs to be ready and prepared for the day he passes.

"I thought it could be burned with me.  Cremated with me," Father Paul Janette tells Today's TMJ4 of the skull.

But the funeral home Father Janette is working with said no way, since they didn't know where the skull came from.  They told him to take it police.  Janette said the skull was given to him by a friend, and is the skull of a 200 year old Native American.  Janette, who has worked with a Native American congregation in the past, said it is disrespectful not to return the skull to its' maker.  He believes that could happen through cremation.

"I would be very upset if someone dug up one of my relative's heads and put it on a shelf.  I wouldn't like that," Janette said.

Police believe the skull was dug up, and said so far, there is nothing leading them to believe Janette did anything criminal.  But Detective Hudson will take the skull to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office on Thursday to hopefully learn more about the skull, who the person was, and when that person died.