DEARBORN COUNTY — Human remains, including a skull, found Tuesday by a man in Harrison Township have been identified as a woman swept away in a flood in July 2023.
Dearborn County Sheriff Shane McHenry said the skeletal remains of Virginia Pennington, 53, were identified.
The man found Pennington's skull while out for a walk on his property Tuesday. The skull was in a debris area by the Whitewater River, which is where he said many things wash up because of the bend.
McHenry said officials searched late into the night for additional remains.
“Found a few other bones that were near the area and then a more extensive search found in a frozen area there were more skeletal remains there,” McHenry said.
The search was difficult due to the temperature and rough terrain, and on Wednesday, officials recovered the rest of the remains.
Last July, Pennington and Hardy Harris, 49, were staying in a cabin on Wolf Creek in Franklin County when the cabin was swept away by flood waters. Harris' body was located roughly three-quarters of a mile from the cabin site, but Pennington was never located.
The Harrison Township site where Pennington was found Tuesday is approximately 19.5 miles away from where the cabin was swept away.
