Norwich Woman Contacted About Remains

Lt. J. Paul Vance said Tuesday the major crimes division of the Connecticut State Police is following leads to determine the identity of the skeletal remains found off Oxoboxo Dam Road late Sunday.

Police are working to determine the cause of death, as well.

The Bulletin is reporting today that a Norwich woman suspects that the remains could be those of her daughter, Erika Cironi, who vanished in 2006. The Day reports that Carol Cironi said Norwich police have contacted her for her daughter’s dental and medical records.

Cironi also raised the possibility that the remains are those of April Pennington, a Montville teen who vanished in 1996. In 2010, George Leniart, of Montville, was convicted of raping and killing Pennington.

There is no telling at this point how long the remains had been in the spot where they were found, Vance said.

The rate of decomposition depends on a number of factors, he said, among them, the weather.

Vance said that decomposition resulting in remains such as were found could have happened in a matter of months, rather than years, but stressed again, that there was no way to determine the time of death at this point.

"We're treating this as a suspicious death," Vance said.