Investigators with the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department, Medical Examiner's Office, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and other agencies on Wednesday searched the area in east Noble where a skull was discovered Christmas Day.

"We searched the area around the house where the dog brought the skull up on the porch, but didn't find anything," said Sheriff's Department Capt. Doug Blaine. "At this point, we're going to have to wait on the medical examiner to give us more information after their analysis of the skull."

The search was conducted in the 17000 block between Cemetery and Banner roads, Blaine said.

The adult-sized skull may have been brought out of nearby woods by a wild animal, then found by one of the family's two Labrador puppies, Blaine said. One of the puppies brought it up on the family's porch, and the resident then contacted police.

Blaine said the skull was covered with mud and investigators believe it was at least two or three years in the woods.

The medical investigator, at best, may be able to determine the gender, race and age of the skull, Blaine said. "They should be able to get a DNA profile and enter that into the DNA database to see if there's a match," he said.

Agencies do not plan to search the area again, Blaine said. "At this point we've exhausted our resources and don't anticipate searching any further. We'll wait on the medical examiner's report," he said.

Tom Blakey 366-3540 tblakey@normantranscript.com