Bill Blackburn

By Richard Zowie

The Highlander

The Llano County Sheriff's Office said it could take months to get answers on skeletal remains found April 1 on a large ranch in the western section of the county.

Sheriff Bill Blackburn of Llano County said a family member of the ranch owner discovered the skeletal remains while riding around on a remote area of the property on an ATV.

“It's definitely not an archeological find, and we won't rule on a cause of death until we get forensic results back from Texas State University,” Blackburn said. “We'll then send DNA results to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) at the University of North Texas in hopes of getting a positive identification.”

A Letter from Llano County Sheriff Bill Blackburn:

I would like to address the article in last week’s paper concerning the “depopulation” of the Llano County Jail.

First, only in the last two weeks did I know the term “depopulation” existed.

As to my current understanding of the term, it would mean shutting down jail operation, firing all jail personnel, transfer all prisoners to Burnet County Jail, transport people arrested in Llano County to Burnet for incarceration, which includes all arrest made by the City of Llano, Sunrise Beach Village, the portion of Horseshoe Bay that lies in Llano County and all arrest made by Llano County SO in all of Llano County, all arrests made by Texas Rangers, Texas DPS troopers, Texas Parks and Wildlife and any and all Federal Agencies that arrest in Llano County.

By Lew K. Cohn

The Highlander

Managing Editor