YOUNGSTOWN - Police have some ideas regarding the identity of a skull found by a dog Saturday in the Sharon Line area of the East Side.
Chief of Detectives Capt. Mark Milstead said police are wondering if the skull is 26-year-old David Jackson, who has been missing since late November.
The skull still has some flesh on it, and it fits into the general time frame of when Jackson went missing, Milstead said.
The Mahoning County Coroner's office is doing dental tests and other tests to try to determine the identity of the skull, Milstead said.
Other bones also were found in the front yard of the Vaughn Street home where police were called about 1 p.m. Saturday by the homeowner after his dog brought the skull into his yard.
''We're focusing on one particular missing person,'' Milstead said.
In December, a shootout at a Landsdowne Boulevard store was linked to Jackson's disappearance, police said.
Reuben Williams, 32, was charged with a Nov. 30 robbery where a woman lost her SUV and cash. Police think Jackson was with Williams when that robbery occurred, and he disappeared shortly after.
Williams also was suspected of taking part in the shootout, where two men walked into the store and pulled guns on two other men, and all four fired at each other. No one was injured.
Although Williams was arrested, a check of court records in both municipal and common pleas court shows he has yet to be charged formally for the Nov. 30 robbery.
Milstead said he also is requesting a cadaver dog from the Summit County Sheriff's Office to search the woods for more body parts. He said he wants to wait for better weather before the dog conducts the search.