The police department, with the help of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, identified the skeleton as Parker Edward Teaver Jr., a 54-year-old Gainesville resident.

"There’s not a lot that we know about him other than who he is," said Lt. Brian Kelly, commander of the criminal investigations division for the Gainesville Police Department. City workers discovered Teaver’s remains last Thursday in a wooded area near the intersection of Pine and Summit streets, and, at the time, could not determine the gender of the remains.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab in Decatur is still trying to determine how long the body may have been in the area and if a cause of death can be established.

Authorities say that it does not immediately seem like Teaver’s death was the result of foul play. Teaver’s remains were found clothed, with a wallet containing identifying documents in the pocket.

Investigators started investigating Teaver’s identity from an old Georgia identification card and a veteran’s card, Kelly said.

His identification listed a Gainesville address, but Teaver had not been reported missing within the city of Gainesville or Hall County, Kelly said.

"Apparently, he may have been kind of on his own," Kelly said.

Teaver’s remains were found on top of the ground in a wooded area near Flat Creek, Kelly said. The body did not seem to be buried or concealed in any way.

"There are definitely no signs of any kind of foul play or any kind of severe damage to the skeletal remains that were readily apparent," Kelly said.

Authorities have not yet been able to determine how long the remains had been in the wooded area because the body’s decomposition would have depended on weather conditions. Cold weather would have preserved the remains a little longer than warm weather, Kelly said.

"It’s all relative to the environmental conditions," Kelly said.

Kelly said there are two houses on the street near the wooded area, and one is abandoned.

"It’s not a heavily traveled area," he said.