Sheriff confirms 'skeletal remains' found at residence on Springfield's east side

Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell confirmed that skeletal remains were found at a residence in the 2100 block of South Grand Avenue East late Monday morning.

Campbell said "the next step" is to identify the remains. Illinois State Police will continue to process the scene, he added.

Campbell would not say where at the house the remains were found.

More: Sheriff: Personal items from missing Springfield woman found in east side home

Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon said a forensic pathologist and an anthropologist will be called in for a post-mortem examination on Tuesday.

Allmon is hoping to have an identity by then.

Earlier Monday, some "personal items" found by homeowners over the weekend were linked to Michelle "Shelly" Bianco, who was last seen about 11 p.m. April 5, 2008, near South Grand and Wheeler avenues in the vicinity of the house.

Finding the skeletal remains was "a great shock," Campbell admitted.

Bianco is one of five missing persons/homicides listed on the sheriff department's website, though those are not all of them.

One of the oldest cold cases, he said, dates from the early 1970s. A warrant is still out for that suspect.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; [email protected]; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Skeletal remains were found in a Springfield home could be Michelle Bianco